Hogwarts and the Class of Misfits (Harry Potter the Next Generation)
by MaddiePea13
Summary: This is a collection of stories featuring the children of the Harry Potter characters (aka, the next generation). It takes place during Albus and Rose's fifth year at Hogwarts, and will include individual stories for the majority of the kids. If you enjoy a good ship of a few next generation characters (as I do), then this is definitely the place for you.
1. Intro

An Introduction

Hogwarts and the Class of Misfits

Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and the Wizarding World and (most of) these characters, not me.

Lily Luna Potter is thirteen years old. Her whole life, she's always been the one with the answers, the one with the plan, the one that everyone else looked to. She is so completely confident in herself that she unknowingly intimidates all those around her. Everyone wants to be her friend. But now that Lily is getting older, she's beginning to find that things aren't always easy, and things don't always go how you want them to. She's finding it harder and harder to just believe, as she always has, that everything she says and does is the right thing, and that everything will just work itself out, in the end. She's starting to realize that the line between right and wrong isn't always black and white, and that everything isn't as simple and straightforward as she once believed. This is making things hard for Lily, who can't seem to get rid of her tendency to... control things. She likes things the way she likes them, and she likes them to stay the way they are. She's starting to question if anything can really stay, or if everything, her happiness included, is simply temporary. And if so, when will hers get taken away?

Hugo Remus Weasley is thirteen years old. His whole life, he's always been second guessing himself and selling himself short, never believing that he has what it takes. These days, it seems clearer and clearer to him that it's simply his lot in life to come in second place, to be a sidekick, to be a minor character in someone else's story. A lot of this feeling stems from being best friends with Lily, who, as far as Hugo (and everyone else, for that matter) is concerned, outshines him in practically every way. And then there's his sister Rose, the try-hard, who is top of her class and always the best at everything she does. Hugo, not matter what he does, it seems to him, has never been the best, and as he is getting older he's starting to realize that maybe... he's just not cool with that. Maybe he wants to be best at something, to be recognized for some sort of achievement, and to not always be taking a back seat to everyone else, especially Lily. He's beginning to wonder if he really is permanently stuck in a minor role, as he had always thought, or if a time will come for him to take center stage. And if it does, will he be ready for it?

Louis Arthur Weasley is fourteen years old. His whole life, he's always been the one who's "different." He's known, practically forever, that he wasn't like the rest of his family, and had always wondered why. Why was he different? Why couldn't they understand him? These days, he's feeling a lot more comfortable being himself, and he wonders if this is simply a sign that he's growing up, or if there's something else to it. Whatever the case, he no longer feels like he needs to be ashamed for being a Ravenclaw, when the entire rest of his family is Gryffindor. This fact always bothered him, it was the main thing that set him apart from the rest of his family. In fact, for the past three years his House has felt more like home to him than his home did, and this worried him. But now that he's grown more comfortable with himself, he wants to also grow closer to the family that he has always kept his distance from. He wants to show everyone the real him- the person he's kept buried away for so long because he was scared. And while he feels like he might finally be ready, he's worried that everyone else just isn't quite yet. But how much longer can he continue to retreat inside himself before it becomes too much?

Fred Weasley is fifteen years old. His whole life, he's always wanted to be someone else. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with who he was, there just wasn't anything particularly right either. He wanted to be someone more interesting; someone bigger and better than he was. And he always dreamed of accomplishing something amazing- though, what exactly, he wasn't quite sure. Now that he's older, though his dreams haven't diminished, he's starting to realize that maybe he just... is who he is. He's worried that he'll always be average, and never be known for anything particularly interesting, and this thought terrifies him. He wonders how he can leave his mark- to go down in Hogwarts history like his father before him- but he's worried that it may already be too late. What can he do to make people see him, and not only see him, but remember his name? How can he make sure that he isn't easily forgotten, as he worries he might be?

Rose Nymphadora Weasley is fifteen years old. Her whole life all she's ever been- and ever wanted to be- was the best of the best. She's always been extremely dedicated to her schoolwork, and as such finds herself constantly under very intense pressure, though mostly self-inflicted. She expects nothing more than the best from herself. And for once, she'd like to be the best without being compared to her mother. And for once, she'd like to be the best without being constantly one-upped by that Slytherin prat, Malfoy, who can't ever seem to leave her alone. As she gets older, she's beginning to realize that perfect doesn't come easy. She has to try and try and try to be everything she expects from herself, and she worries she's falling short. What if she just can't do it? What if she'll never be everything she was supposed to be- everything she expects from herself? She's beginning to wonder if maybe her goals are simply out of reach, and she's starting to feel her perfect self and her perfect future slowly slipping out from between her fingers. How will she handle it if things simply don't turn out how they were meant to?

Scorpius Malfoy is fifteen years old. His whole life, he's always done exactly what people have expected him to do. He was sorted into Slytherin, where he became, and still is, the top of his House. He's the Keeper of the Quidditch team, a prefect, the best in practically every subject, and all the teachers and all his housemates love him. But as he gets older he is beginning to wonder: how much of what he does is for his own benefit? Is he who he is because that's who he wants to be, or because that's who his parents want him to be? He can't stand that his family has so many high expectations for him, and he questions if he'll ever be able to break free of their image of him as the perfect, Pureblood, Slytherin son. Will he ever be able to figure out who he is underneath all the expectations and assumptions, and find out whether or not his life is really what he wants it to be?

Albus Severus Potter is fifteen years old. His whole life, he's lived in the enormous shadow cast by his family. With his father being who he is, and Albus looking just like him, his life has always seemed full of inevitable comparisons to "The Boy Who Lived." And as he gets older, he's is starting to realize that he'll never come close to the achievements of his father. He knows that his parents are proud of him, and he knows that no one expects him to defeat evil incarnate by the time he's seventeen, but still he worries that nothing he'll ever do will even come close to the achievements of his family. And he sees his brother, who walks around like he's never had a care in the world, and his sister, who walks around like she owns it. And then there's him. He can't help but feel like he's simply left-over; a much less compelling version of his father or his siblings. But what can he do to set himself apart? How can he ever compete with all that they are?

Molly Weasley is fifteen years old. Her whole life, she's always lived a little bit on the wild side. If her sister Lucy was the model student and the perfect child, Molly was the opposite. She did things because she wanted to, when she wanted to, and often those things didn't involve listening, or sitting still, or being a "good girl." But now that she's getting older, she's starting to realize that some things aren't nearly as fun for her as they used to be, and she's become somewhat notorious around the castle for the things she gets up to. She's beginning to worry that she's not at all prepared for her future, as her sister reminds her every chance she gets. She doesn't want to stop being young and having fun and living a little on the edge, but she wonders if she'll know when the time is right to draw the line. What will she do when things start to get serious? And how will she handle it when her life isn't all that fun anymore?

Lucy Weasley is seventeen years old. Her whole life, she's always been the reasonable one, the level-headed one, the responsible one. She's currently the Head Girl at Hogwarts, and has spent her last six years there building her reputation as someone who is smart, accomplished, and has her life together. As she gets older, she begins to further understand why it's so important to try your hardest and get ahead in life wherever possible. She often wonders why other people, especially her sister, Molly, don't seem to understand this as she does. And she wonders why her sister and her cousins continue to act out, and why no one ever seems to listen to her. She's right about most things, they just don't seem to see it. Now that it's her last year at Hogwarts, she feels it is her responsibility to pass on her legacy in any way that she can, and if that involves reigning in her crazy sister, so be it. But how will she get Molly to listen, when she never has in the past? How can she make everyone else see that her way is the right way?

Roxanne Weasley is fifteen years old. Her whole life, she'd always been the fun one, the cool one, the one who knew how to have a good time. She and her cousin James were best friends, partners in crime, and known around the school for all the fun pranks and things they would get up to together. As they've gotten older, however, things are starting to change. These days, Roxanne sometimes feels like a shell of her past self- like she used to know exactly who she was and now she isn't sure in the slightest. Last year everything was great, but this year James has been growing distant, and on top of it all things aren't going very well with her boyfriend, either. She's worried that things will never get back to how they used to be, when she was happy and everything made sense. And she wonders if everything is changing around her, or if she's the one who's changed. What will she do if she and James continue to grow apart? How will she discover who she is on her own, without him?

James Potter is sixteen years old. His whole life, he's been known as a prankster and a jerk, as the guy who never took anything seriously. He built this reputation for himself; we was proud of it. But now that he's older, even though his carefree lifestyle has never bothered him in the past, he's starting to think that maybe there's a better way to go about things. Like maybe he doesn't want to date the hottest girl in school just because she's hot, when he has nothing else in common with her. And maybe he's starting to find his usual shenanigans a little juvenile, and he wonders why the idea of blowing up a broom shed used to seem so appealing, even hilarious, to him, when it doesn't anymore. He wonders what's changed, just as he wonders what's different now about this girl who he'd never given a second thought to before. Why is she suddenly all he can focus on? And when did life stop being so simple? When did he stop being carefree, and stop having all the answers?

Alice Longbottom is sixteen years old. Her whole life, she's been the quiet one, the polite one, they one that was too shy to talk to anybody. Where her best friend, Dominique, was rebellious and angry, Alice was sweet and more go-with-the-flow. Now that she's getting older, however, she's starting to wonder if there's someone else she'd rather be. She doesn't want to blend in with the walls anymore, or be overlooked because she's too boring . She wants to be someone who's worthy of other people's attention, and she wants to branch out and make new friends, but she just keeps getting stuck. Overcoming her inherent shyness and anxiety would be the first step, but, as she's beginning to realize, doing so isn't nearly as easy as she thought. So what will she do when the opportunity to make a change comes knocking on her door? Is she ready to put herself out there, or will the idea of change become too scary to face? Will she decide that maybe she's comfortable with her life as it is, after all?

Dominique Weasley is sixteen years old. Her whole life, she's hated the fact that she's a Weasley. She can't stand to be associated with her own family, because that association always comes with some sort of comparison and a whole ton of expectations. All she's ever wanted was to be her own person, and not be defined by her relationship to her family. For her, being her own person, independent from her family, meant making herself invisible, unrecognizable, and someone that she really isn't. But as she gets older, she's beginning to realize how hard this actually is to do. She just can't seem to make herself disappear, and she doesn't understand why some people keep trying to stop her. Her best friend Alice, and her little brother Louis, and some guy she barely knows- they won't go away, and they won't let her go away. And she's beginning to wonder if it's really worth it to hide herself away for fear of all the assumptions that come with being a Weasley. How can she just be herself when she's spent so much time trying to be someone else? And why does it have to be so hard to reinvent who you are?

The Harry Potter story continues, this time with a new class of students. And this year at Hogwarts is looking to be one of the most interesting yet. This is a story of struggle, strife, and conflict, as this new group of students work to find themselves, and realize what it really means to grow up. They'll face changes and struggles surrounding school, relationships, friends, and family, all the while figuring out who they really are, and who they want to be.

This story will follow them on their own individual journeys, which eventually will intertwine and connect, as they become bigger influences on each other's lives. How will they handle everything that's going on this year? Well, I can guarantee you one thing: by the time they're finished, Hogwarts will never be the same.

Read on, and I really hope you enjoy it!


	2. HCOM Chapter 1- Lily

Caitlin Fawcett's New Vintage Shoes

or

Shenanigans Aboard the Hogwarts Express

As Lily Luna Potter boarded the train to Hogwarts, she felt an overwhelming rush of relief. It was a very different sensation, she recalled, than the one she'd felt getting on the train her first year. That year she'd been so scared, and yet so excited, because, after all, this was what she'd been waiting her whole life for, wasn't it? And now, she just felt relief. Back to school, back to the place she loved most in the whole world.

She followed Hugo to a car, and they sat down together, throwing their carry-on bags above them before heading over to the window to stick their heads out and wave goodbye to their families. She located her dad, as did everyone else on the entire platform, though both she and her father pretended not to notice. He just looked right at her. He held up the little note in his hand and nodded, a smile growing on his lips. Only the two of them knew what the note said, and only they understood what his gesture meant.

She waved at him, and her mum, and Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron as the train pulled away from the station.

"Remember to write!" Aunt Hermione called to Hugo, and he blushed. He didn't need to be embarrassed, though. I mean, her parents had reminded her to write at least a thousand times over. And she would. She always did.

Once the train was on it's way, she asked Hugo if he wanted to come with her to find their friends, and he only shrugged.

"Oh, come on! Aren't you just _dying_ to see Ellie?" He blushed again, and she commented on how easy it was to make him blush because of his classic Weasley-red hair. He scowled.

"Your hair is just as red as mine!" he said, before his scowl turned into a mischievous grin, "Besides, you only want to find _Lysander."_ She didn't blush, however, at the name, and only smiled sweetly back.

"My hair may be just as red, but it isn't nearly as easy to embarrass me." And this was true. The girl was simply too sure of herself to ever let what others said embarrass her. She got up then, to go search the train, but before she even made it to the door, Caitlin Fawcett- one of Lily's roommates- burst into their car, positively fuming with anger.

"LILY!" she screamed, and Lily cowered back, unsure what she had done to receive such a terrifying greeting.

"Um... hi, Caitlin," Hugo said to her, but he was determinedly ignored.

"Look at what your ridiculous brother did to my SHOES!" Caitlin screeched, kicking her foot up into the air and pointing at it. Lily didn't even have to ask which brother her friend meant- that part was obvious. She examined the shoes, a once-lovely pair of strapped red Mary Jane's, which were now completely covered with horrendous splatters of sickly green and mud-brown and traffic-cone orange and dirty yellow. "My new vintage RED Mary Jane's, no less!"

Lily ignored that the words "new" and "vintage" were slightly contradictory, and directed her friend over to a seat. Caitlin, who was a young and sensitive soul, sat down then and looked like she might cry.

"Oh, Caitie, come on, it's ok," Lily told her, placing a comforting arm around her friend.

"They've done it to practically everyone on my side of the train! The second you step into your compartment your shoes get stuck to the floor and splattered with this _horrendous-_ smelling stuff. It's horrible! You have to fix this!" Lily wondered if Caitlin meant just her shoes, or the whole prank-pulling situation. In either case, she knew what she had to do.

"There's always some kind of reversal spell on these things. I'll be right back," and with that, Lily shot to her feet and through to door of their car, off down the way Caitlin had come from. Hopefully Hugo would be alright, alone with the emotionally-unstable young witch, until she returned.

Once she got a little ways down the train, she noticed that everyone was wailing and showing their shoes to their friends, and that they were all covered with the same ugly-colored stuff as Caitlin's. And it _did_ smell terrible. She also noticed her older cousin Lucy Weasley- newly appointed Head Girl- with her face all scrunched up and angry like it got, yelling at everyone to calm down and casting spells intended to make everything smell less like poo and vomit and more like a summer breeze. Whatever kind of magic Lucy was using, however, it was nothing compared to the strength of the spell her brother had used, and the stink raged relentlessly on.

And yes, even though he wasn't on the scene, and there wasn't any evidence that pointed specifically to him, Lily knew that it had to have been her brother James who did this. It could be no one else.

She continued to storm about the train, peering into each car, waving sweetly at some of her friends and stopping only to tell them where she was going, and where Hugo and Caitlin were. Hopefully they would all meet back there once she was done taking care of this. She finally found him in a car very close to the back, and she let herself in, positively slamming the compartment door behind her.

"James Sirius Potter!" she yelled at him, using his middle name like Mum did when she was mad. Everyone in the car, except for James, that is, looked startled by her arrival/outburst, but they got over it quick enough.

"Hullo, Lil," James' best friend Eli Davies said, smiling his charming smile and flashing his pristine teeth at her like only Eli Davies could. She was pleased that she continued to find it easier and easier to ignore Eli as she got older, though she'd had a crush on him for years. That's what she did now- ignore him. She started straight for James.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused on half the train? Lucy is just furious, not to mention everyone else!" James only smiled, completely unaffected by his sister's anger.

"It wasn't even my idea, Lil. This one was Roxy." Lily's cousin, Roxanne, smiled a falsely sweet smile at her from where she lay across from James, her head in Grayson Macmillan's lap.

"But it's not like I didn't have help," Roxy said, fixing her hazel-brown eyes pointedly on James. But neither of them looked ashamed. In fact, they looked ready to burst into laughter.

"It's not funny!" she screamed, and their smiles vanished, but only momentarily.

"Relax, Lily. I'm sorry if we ruined your shoes. It'll come off," James said, not really looking sorry.

"Probably," muttered Michael Wood from his seat next to Eli, and both James and Roxanne gave him a dirty look.

"It's not even my shoes. It's Caitlin's new vintage red Mary Jane's!" They pretended like they knew what she was talking about, and they pretended to be concerned. "I just need you to tell me the reversal spell." James laughed a little bit at this.

"You're only a third year, Lil. This is complex magic. No way you could pull it off." She just glared at him.

"Then you do it!" she yelled, thinking this was obvious. Roxanne had sat up and was now watching the scene unfold.

"No way! Do you have any idea how much work I put into this prank?" He crossed his arms, unwilling to indulge the little girl's wishes.

"I thought it wasn't even yours!"

"It wasn't my _idea._ Doesn't mean I didn't do any work on it."

" _Please,_ James! I don't want Caitlin to hate me! I told her I would fix it!" Now, at this point, Lily saw two options before her: either continue to waste her breath arguing, or start crying. Lily hardly ever really _cried_ , but this wasn't something James was aware of. Because James' one major soft spot was when his little sister started crying, and she had known this for a long time. She didn't really cry any more, but James thought she did. And that was always enough for her to get her way.

So she did it. She quivered her lip and drew in a shaky breath and started scrunching up her face. James suddenly looked worried, genuinely worried, because he knew that she was about to cry.

"Oh, Lily, no. Don't cry, please?" he pleaded with her, as she let her eyes get watery.

"You have to _fix_ it! I don't want her to hate me!" she said in a shaky voice, letting a strategic tear fall. James sighed and got to his feet.

"No one is gonna hate you, Lily," Roxy told her, shaking her head.

"They will unless you fix it!" she said this to them both, letting a few more tears fall. The rest of their friends were watching her warily, as if she was a ticking time bomb about to explode.

"Okay, okay, take me to your friend," James relented, if only to get her to stop crying. She didn't stop right away, because that would be too obvious, but she brightened considerably once he agreed. She led him out the door by his hand, and he shrugged at his friends as she hauled him away.

"That girl's got him wrapped around her little finger," Eli said when they were almost (but not quite) out of earshot, and Roxanne nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Lily dragged James back through the train with her. When they got to the section of the train where the havoc had been wreaked, James grinned his classic "mischievous grin," and there was a glint in his eyes that he only had when he was up to no good. They soon approached the frazzled Lucy, who was still running around trying to clean up the mess, and when she saw James she froze in place. The look she gave him probably would have killed a lesser man, one who wasn't as used to girls giving him death glares as James was. Lucy knew that he was responsible, as did most anyone else who had a clue.

"Hey, Luce," he greeted her impishly, "keep up the hard work."

"You little-" Lucy started, catching herself before she could say what she was actually thinking. That was maybe the closest that goody-two-shoes Lucy Weasley ever came to swearing. James paid her no heed, however, knowing that the most she would do to him would be give him detention- a power that she had never abused but had utilised at every available opportunity since she became a prefect her fifth year. But she couldn't even give him detention if she couldn't _prove_ his involvement. And they both knew she couldn't.

"Later, Luce," James parted as he allowed his sister to drag him swiftly away. He cheekily winked at Lucy before turning around, and she stayed frozen in place, staring daggers into the back of his head.

When they made it back to Lily's car, all of her friends were there, including Lysander Scamander, as Lily pretended not to be acutely aware of.

"I HATE James Potter!" Caitlin was saying, staring angrily at her completely ruined new vintage shoes. She hadn't noticed Lily or her brother's entrance thus of the car.

"Sorry to hear it," James said, smiling at the young girl's shocked (and slightly mortified) expression at finding him there. "I just came to see what I could do about your shoes." All the other third years looked very intimidated by the sixth year's presence, except for Hugo, who knew his cousin well enough to not be bothered.

James walked over and kneeled down in front of the third year witch, whose small little feet didn't reach the floor of the car when she sat back on the bench. He picked up one of her feet and examined her shoe, twisting around her ankle so as to see it from all angles. All the third years watched him closely, waiting for him to make his move.

He pretended to contemplate as he withdrew his wand from his robes, tapping it on his chin. After a few more moments of "deliberation," he whispered a slow incantation and twirled his wand around her feet. With a final flick of the wrist, slowly the gunk that covered her shoes faded out of existence. Once it was gone her new vintage Mary Jane's appeared again, shiny and bright red. They were somehow even prettier than they had been before, Caitlin thought to herself. Though, of course she couldn't say this to him.

"Thank you, James," she muttered, pulling her knees up to her chest and rubbing her shoes with her thumb, to make sure they felt as nice and clean as they looked.

"Of course, Caitlin," he told her, standing up and brushing off his hands. She looked surprised that he knew her name, and she smiled shyly at him. He gave her a wink (a far more well-intentioned wink than the one he'd given his cousin Lucy just before), the rest of them a parting wave, and then turned to Lily.

"Happy now, brat?" She nodded. "I'll see you later then. Have a grand time at the feast and try not to let the Sorting Ceremony bore you." He was tempted to kiss her on the head, but thought better of it and settled on just ruffling her hair before he left.

Once he was almost out of earshot, Hugo Weasley sighed and said, "You've got that boy wrapped around your little finger, don't you?" And James and Lily both smiled, because they knew it was true.

 **So... that's the first chapter! I really like the idea of james being a jokester/moderate asshole/cool sixth year who the younger kids all look up to, but he's actually a really sweet, decent guy whose nice side mostly only comes out around his baby sister, who he's got a major soft spot for. Review if you liked it, and there's plenty more where these shenanigans came from (I've recently been told that no one says "shenanigans," anymore, so I've been trying to use it as much as possible). Anyway, please read on! -Maddie**


	3. HCOM Chapter 2- Albus

**Author's note: So the last chapter was just a silly little thing introducing a few of the characters. This chapter is gonna do a little more of that, with a little bit of backstory and a few more characters introduced. The last chapter's main character was technically Lily, and this chapter it's Albus. My plan is for each chapter to focus on one of the characters, and alternate between the third years (aka: Lily, Hugo, Lorcan, and Lysander), the fifth years (aka: Rose, Albus, Fred II Scorpius, and Molly), and the sixth years (aka: James, Roxanne, Dominique, and Alice II). If you enjoy it, please give me a review! -Maddie**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and the Wizarding World and (most of) these characters, not me.**

Albus Potter's Wandering Thoughts

or

Tales of Sortings Past

The herd of students filed into the Great Hall, all of them trying to gaze at the beautiful night sky that was the ceiling without running into anyone. Albus Severus Potter was no different. He followed the handle of the Big Dipper towards the North Star, his very favorite star. It was the same one he looked at out of his dormitory window when he felt homesick, and the one he looked at from his bedroom window when he missed Hogwarts. And, Merlin, he'd missed Hogwarts. His father had always regarded the castle as his favorite place in the world, and Albus felt very much the same way.

Though, of course, he didn't lead nearly the terrible and trying life that his father had led, so Hogwarts wasn't the same kind of escape for him that it had been for Harry. And, even though he spent most of his year there, it wasn't home to him, not really. Not like it had been for his dad. Rather, it was the only place that made him feel... like he was part of something bigger. Something grand and ancient and magical.

He and Rose had rode the carriages up with two of her roommates, Norrie Russell and Cara Bennett, and they searched the crowd for their other friends, whom they had lost on the platform after disembarking from the train. Fred Weasley, their cousin and fellow fifth year Gryffindor, spotted them from where he'd already found a spot at the table, and called to them, smiling brightly. They made their way over to him and their other friends, Toby Pritchett and Liam Allen, sitting down relievedly.

"Long time no see, Fred," Rose quipped, knowing full well that not only had they just ridden with him on the train, but they'd also spent practically all of the day prior together at The Burrow with their entire Weasley family. Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur liked to throw a big "Back to Hogwarts" dinner the day before they all left for school. In the years past it had been somewhat of a "good luck," dinner to whichever of their grandkids were starting their first year. Two years ago the banner had read, "Good Luck, Lily and Hugo!" And now it simply read, "Good Luck at School!" Last year was the first year in a long time that Hogwarts had gained no new Weasley (or Potter) kids.

For practically as long as Albus could remember, the letters on the banner had been red and gold. Gryffindor's colors. Practically all of the Weasley's were Gryffindors, so they'd never had to change them. But then, the year after he and Rose and Fred and Molly went off to school (all sorted into Gryffindor) their cousin Louis broke the mold.

 _Louis Weasley was an odd little duck. At least, that's what his maman called him. Of course, he didn't mind so much when she said it._

 _His sister Victoire had been the Hogwarts Golden Girl- beautiful, popular, funny, brave, adored. His other sister, Dominique, wasn't anyone's Golden Girl. But she could have been. She was very much like Victoire in very many ways, though she worked exceptionally hard every day to make sure that nobody thought so. But Louis had known her when she was little- and he knew what she was really like._

 _Louis, on the other hand, liked books. Louis liked to sketch, and sit outside memorising poetry, and he loved to take photographs. Louis also liked to be left alone. Not that he always wanted to exist in solitude, or despised the company of others, or anything like that; more like, when he didn't have solitude he craved it. He also hated confrontation and he hated making meaningless conversation. He always had._

 _Louis was no Gryffindor. His whole family was- both his sisters had been, and he was almost sure his maman would have been had she gone to Hogwarts. But he was no Gryffindor._

 _On the night before his first day at Hogwarts, his Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur had bewitched their banner to say "Good Luck Louis!" in red and gold letters. Now that he thought about it, the letters had always been red and gold. They'd never had to be anything else._

 _Louis had left the big family dinner early that night, heading inside and hiding in a closet where no one would find him. But somehow- he'd never thought to ask how- his maman had found him there._

 _"May I come in?" she asked, her slight French accent familiar and comforting. He didn't see how there was any room for her- it wasn't a very big closet. But then again... she wasn't a very big woman. She squeezed herself in next to him and closed the door behind her._

 _The closet was completely dark for a second, before Louis' magic took effect once again. He didn't know how or why, but every time it got dark in a space around him, a dozen tiny little blue lights appeared out of seemingly nowhere, brightening up the space around his head and casting everything in a pale blue light. They helped him read at night, and helped keep him from being scared when he did things like this. Shut himself up in broom cupboards, I mean._

 _"You make ze most beautiful magic," Fleur said to her son, gazing at the tiny little lights floating around their heads. She had seen them before, and still couldn't fathom how he made them appear without even trying. They just came- had since he was maybe two years old. Maybe younger. "You will be a great wizard."_

 _"Merci, Maman," he thanked her, but something in his voice said that he didn't mean it._

 _"What, you don't believe me? You will!" And then, as if Fleur knew what her youngest child was thinking, she leaned in close and whispered, "Quoi qu'on en dise." No matter what people say._

 _She saw tears pricking in her son's eyes, and she drew him close, hugging him against her and patting his unkempt mop of strawberry blonde hair. She knew that he had struggled greatly to fit in in muggle primary school because of how different he was. She had always understood him in that she didn't understand him. He was unlike herself, unlike Charlie, unlike his sisters, unlike anyone she knew. And that was an extremely good thing, in Fleur's eyes. Because her baby wasn't ordinary- he was extraordinary. "You be who you are, Louis," she whispered to him, "You don't let anyone change zat."_

 _And he didn't._

 _And that's why the very next night at the Sorting Ceremony, when the Sorting Hat called his name, and all anybody in the Hall heard was "Weasley", and the Gryffindor house prepared itself for a new member, Louis sat down on the stool with confidence, knowing what was about to happen._

 _The Hat, seeing that he was a Weasley, asked him if he wanted to be a Gryffindor. And Louis had replied, "Only if that's where I belong." And, a moment later, the Hat had shouted: "Ravenclaw!"_

 _The entire hall fell silent, and his cousins- all 10 of them there at the time- had stared at him bewilderedly. And then... the Ravenclaw table burst into applause, as did the rest of the students. And Louis suddenly wasn't embarrassed to be the center of attention, and didn't find himself wanting nothing more than to be alone. Instead, he wanted only to join his new house, with his new family, where he knew he could finally belong._

Albus sat contemplating his Ravenclaw cousin, who was sitting at the next table over, debating away with his Ravenclaw friends, looking like the happiest, most normal kid in the world. It was a far cry from the introverted way he'd been when he had started at Hogwarts, and his entire family was simply happy to see him happy. No one had given him any grief about his house placement, and now they mentioned it only jokingly. They'd even changed the banner so that the letters were an alternating red, gold blue, and silver.

But the Weasley-Potter kids weren't the only ones who were all getting sorted into Gryffindor. You see, after the end of the Second Wizarding War, when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's fame had rose to new heights, the Gryffindor house had become extremely popular. Practically every kid whose parents didn't pressure them to become Slytherin wanted to be a Gryffindor.

Or course, the Sorting Hat had done it's best to keep the houses relatively equal, trying to sort kids where they belonged. However, it was an unknown rule that the Sorting Hat would present a person with options, always trying to give them what they wanted. And since the majority of the students wanted to be Gryffindor, this meant that the numbers became increasingly skewed in Gryffindor's favor. The Gryffindor house had consistently gained almost 25 new students per year, as opposed to the normal 15 or so.

Poor Hufflepuff's numbers had dropped considerably, and they were hoping for a better turnout this year. Most of the student body was hoping along with them. The Gryffindors weren't sure how many new housemates they could stand at this point, and the rest of the houses were sick to death of getting beat in the Quidditch Cup every year by Gryffindor. Though that was perhaps more due to the abundance of Quidditch super-stars that the Weasley-Potter family provided, than the extra number of Gryffindors.

Molly Weasley- a highly opinionated political activist sort- was leading some of the older students in a "Stop Gryffindor-centricity" campaign, though she herself was a Gryffindor. The campaign's purpose was to boost the opinions on the other houses with advertisements of sorts for the non-Gryffindors. The Gryffindor House wouldn't be excluded- they too would get adverts- but it certainly wouldn't be the biggest house getting promoted. This would coincide with the "Stop House Hate," campaign the Slytherins had put on a couple of years prior, and the "End House Stereotypes," campaign that was also being put into effect.

This is what Albus thought of as the new first years (fresh off the boats) were paraded into the Great Hall and lined up in the front. They stared anxiously at the Sorting Hat, which was now perched upon its stool in all it's unpleasant glory. It sang a variation of it's same old song, about the brave-of-heart Gryffindor and the just and loyal Hufflepuff, the wise and witty Ravenclaw and the cunning and ambitious Slytherin. When it was done, everyone cheered with a few people half-heartedly cheering "Go Hufflepuff!" or "Yeah, Slytherin!" Then the names were called, one by one, in alphabetical order.

The very first boy to be called up- Joseph Adams- was a "Hufflepuff!", and the entire hall, not just his new house, burst into cheers. He looked very pleased with himself, albeit a little confused as to what he'd done to receive such praise, as he found a seat at his new table. A few more were called, and not a single Gryffindor yet. Everyone, even the Gryffindors, seemed relieved.

Then a girl, Madison Foster, was called up, and she strode confidently up to the hat, chin back, ready to accept her fate. Albus knew what would be called before it was, because he could practically feel the Gryffindor energy coming from her. "Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat shouted, and Madison emerged, beaming, as the Gryffindor table let out a collective chant:

"One More Gryffin-dor!"

Most of the younger Gryffindors didn't know how or when the "One More Gryffindor," tradition got started, but Albus did. In fact, not surprisingly, it was his infamous older brother, James, who had done it.

It had started at the Sorting Ceremony exactly 6 years prior, when James first came to Hogwarts.

 _The young 11 year old James Sirius Potter had confidently strode up to the Sorting Hat, not doubting for a second what house he belonged in. His father was Harry Sodding Potter, for goodness sakes! And his mum was a Weasley. And all the Weasley's were Gryffindors- they just were. He had no reason to doubt that, despite the statistical improbability that every member of the same family all be sorted into the same house. James didn't think statistically- he thought with his gut._

 _The hat had barely touched his head before it called out: "Gryffindor!" in it's familiar voice, and the Gryffindor table had erupted into cheers the likes of which hadn't been heard since Harry Potter himself was sorted._

 _"We've got Potter!" one kid shouted, and everyone grinned broadly at their new housemate. James was famous just by his association with his father, and many students ignorantly thought of James Potter and Harry Potter as very much the same thing- though poor James had never done anything nearly as extraordinary as Harry in his life. Yet._

 _As_ _the Sorting continued, there were more and more enthusiastic new Gryffindors, all wanting to be in the same house as James Potter, so they could become his "friend" in the hopes of maybe one day meeting Harry Potter. Soon, the numbers for Gryffindor had become a bit too high, and the enthusiasm coming from the table itself greatly diminished. When the Hat finally reached the "W's" many of the students had stopped clapping altogether for the new Gryffindors._

 _"Dominique Weasley," was called up, and though there wasn't an audible groan, you could almost feel it coming from the Gryffindors as the nervous young redhead had made her way up to the hat. She was a Weasley, and all Weasley's were Gryffindors._

 _Sure enough, "Gryffindor!" was called out, and Dominique emerged from under the hat, looking extremely excited, only to have her excitement diminish greatly by the lack of enthusiasm from her new housemates. Her cousin James had cheered loudly for her, but it didn't mask that he was one of the very fewwho had bothered to cheer at all. She had taken her seat, flushed and embarrassed, and no longer looking at all happy with being a Gryffindor. And then it happened._

 _"Roxanne Weasley!"_

 _This time the groan was audible, and unmistakable. Roxanne would be a Gryffindor, not because she was a Weasley, James thought, but because his cousin- his favorite cousin, might I add- was fearless. And yet, when she made her way up to the Sorting Hat, she had looked at the Gryffindor table, probably searching for James but not finding him amidst the crowd, and she had actually looked frightened. James couldn't believe it. His Roxanne: the beautiful, funny, mischievous young daughter of the great George Weasley of "Fred and George Enterprises," was afraid?_

 _This simply would not do._

 _So, after resting on her head for a few anticipation-filled moments, the Sorting Hat called out: "Gryffindor!" And, for a second, it seemed like no one would cheer. Until James Sirius Potter mustered up all of his courage and shouted at the top of his lungs:_

 _"One More Gryffin-dor!"_

 _Roxanne emerged from under the hat and found her cousin immediately, smiling broadly. The outburst had startled some of his housemates, but many of them found it funny, and laughed good-naturedly. A few kids next to him followed his lead and started chanting: "One More Gryffin-dor!" over and over again until the whole house was chanting it. And Roxanne had beamed at them all, and she had taken her rightful seat at the Gryffindor table, next to her very favorite cousin, James._

Albus locked eyes with his cousin Frank (Roxanne's younger brother), who also knew the story all too well, and who was most certainly thinking of the exact same thing as he. Albus' brother, though he liked to feign an aura of mystery that made all of his shenanigans all that more intriguing (How did he do it? Why did he do it? Did he even do it? How is he so cool?), was actually a bit of a show off. And a bragger.

A few more first years were called up, and Albus watched their frightened expressions with amusement, wondering how exactly he could have been so scared by such a little thing.

But then again, thought Albus, it wasn't such a little thing. Actually, it was everything. He thought about his life, and about his friends, and about every experience he'd had since he'd first came to Hogwarts, and there was one common thread that linked them all together- Gryffindor. And if you took that thread away, Albus Severus Potter would be a very different boy, with a very different cast of friends and a very different set of experiences. He could scarcely imagine it.

But it wasn't being Sorted that had determined all that about him. No, it was something else. He was hesitant to call it fate, but that's basically what it was. He firmly believed that, deep down, he was predestined to be a Gryffindor. It was part of his identity- not because the Sorting Hat had said so, not even because Gryffindor was what he had asked for, but because it just was. Because he was Albus Severus Potter and he was a Gryffindor.

Of course, when he was 11 he hadn't been so confident. He'd been scared to death of becoming a Slytherin- a thought that seemed funny to him now. His sister, Lily, had had some of the same fears he had had at the start of her first year, and he'd tried to comfort her, though really she didn't need it. The girl always got what she wanted.

 _"I think I might be a Hufflepuff," Lily Luna whispered to Albus in the car on the way to King's Cross, and he smiled._

 _"I thought I might be a Slytherin." She wrinkled her nose at the name, and Harry, hearing their conversation from the front, smiled knowingly._

 _"Ew. No way. You're also a Hufflepuff," she teased._

 _"No, I'm a Gryffindor."_

 _"Yeah..." she stopped and contemplated, before stating resolutely: "So am I." And that's when he had known that she was. Because she was Lily, and because she was Harry and Ginny's daughter and James and Albus' sister, and because she was Lily._

 _During_ _the Sorting Ceremony, however, she hadn't looked quite so sure as before, and he noticed her glancing repeatedly at the Hufflepuff table, as if imagining what her life with them would be like. She wouldn't be a bad Hufflepuff, really. She was friendly and loyal and all that. But there was something so profoundly Gryffindor about her, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was, exactly._

 _When she was called up, she was practically shaking, but Albus wasn't nervous. Whatever happened, would happen, and it was all for the best. And when the Hat called out "Gryffindor!" and the table erupted into an enthusiastic: "One More Gryffin-dor!" and their brother James shouted a humourous "We've got Potter!" causing an eruption of laughter from his side of the table, he felt it more surely than ever. She was meant to by Gryffindor._

 _Lily had giggled excitedly and came to sit in between he and Rose, some familiar faces. As the Sorting Ceremony continued, she leaned in and whispered to her big brother-_

 _"I didn't ask for Gryffindor, like you and Daddy did. I just asked for the Hat to put me where I belonged. And I guess that's here." He smiled broadly at her sweet little freckled face._

 _"What have I been telling you all along, Lil?" And she had just rolled her eyes at him. After that, they both waited intently for Hugo Weasley- Lily's very best friend in the whole world- to be sorted, and to no one's surprise, there was another Weasley Gryffindor to add to the lot._

 _"Hugh is such a copycat! He only wanted to be a Gryffindor because I'm a Gryffindor!" Lily joked, and her brother smiled because he knew how much more there was to it than that._

The list had finally reached "W," and many students were still surprised when there was no Weasley called. Up until the year before, there had been a new Weasley every year since Lucy, not counting Victoire because there was a gap of 4 years between her and Luce.

Albus glanced over at Rose, to see if she was also contemplating the utter lack of fresh Weasley blood, but she seemed distracted. She was staring somewhat angrily over her shoulder at something, though he couldn't tell what.

"Rosie?" he asked, shaking her out of her daze.

"Hmm?"

"Are you alright? What were you looking at?" Rose didn't answer right away, and a slight blush rose to her easily-flushed fair cheeks.

"I'm fine," she answered simply, and Albus tried to shake off the thought that was haunting him. However, he couldn't help but glance in the general direction she had been looking in, and he fixed his eyes on Scorpius Malfoy, the fair-haired Slytherin jerk who had been bugging Rosie for years. He was being very chatty with Ruby Bulstrode, Albus noticed, to no surprise. She was just as conceited and arrogant at he was- they were perfect for each other. Then Albus looked away, shaking his head.

That couldn't have been who she was looking at, he thought. But if it had been, that would explain the anger he had seen in her expression- because Rosie despised Malfoy, who had been competing with her for top of the class since their very first day at school. Al wasn't quite sure who was winning the competition at this point. He'd stopped paying attention quite a long time ago, as had everyone else, though he was sure the two of them were still at it.

But that didn't explain the blush.

He shook his head again, determined to let it go, and engaged one of his roommates in a conversation about his summer holiday. He would have to bring it up to Fred and them later, see what they thought about it.

The fifth year Gryffindors were very much like that: Norrie Russell would do or say something weird in Potions, and Cara Bennett would ask Rose who would, in turn, ask Albus or Fred or someone what they thought about it. Or Liam Allen would say something to Cara, who would then turn to Toby Pritchett to dissect what "he could possibly mean by that." Or Fred would talk to someone who he didn't generally speak with, and Liam, who saw him doing this, would ask Norrie or Rose or Al or someone if they thought this was strange, or if they should maybe do anything about it. Or... well, you get the picture.

Al continued to watch Rose discretely out of the corner of his eye for the remainder of the Welcoming Ceremony, and all throughout the feast. Rose, however, was most likely aware that she was being watched, and determinedly did not glance in the direction of the Slytherin table again for the remainder of the evening. And, when it was time to retire for the night, unpack and all that up in their dormitories, Albus had almost forgotten to bring it up to Fred.

Almost.

 **So I hope you liked this chapter. I really enjoyed adding a little Fleur cameo in there, and I love the idea of her as a supportive, loving mom who supports her children no matter what. I think Louis could be a really interesting character, and I'm definitely gonna come back to him and give him more story later. I'm also going to come back to the idea of the Weasley family (led by Molly) working together to support house equality and end house hate. Please review and read on for more! -Maddie**


	4. HCOM Chapter 3- Dominique

**Author's note: So I hope you liked that last chapter. That one introduced a lot of characters, so over the next few chapters I'm gonna focus more on individual characters and their development. This one is about Dominique, the rebel of the Weasley clan. Please please please review!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and the Wizarding World and (most of) these characters, not me.**

Dominique Weasley's Early Morning Chat

or

The Start of Something New

Things never went right for Dominique Weasley. As far as she was concerned, her entire life was defined by series of unfortunate circumstances that were beyond her control. The first, and perhaps most vexing of these circumstances, was her family.

Dominique didn't want to be a part of one of the biggest, most famous wizarding families in the world. She wanted to be her own person, not a collection of ideas that people had of her because of her _family_ and her _sister._

But, unfortunately for Dominique, she carried the evidence of her family line with her everywhere she went. The hair, the freckles, and the red and gold tie she wore were all evidence of who she was. _What_ she was. A Weasley.

That's why Dominique dyed her hair dark brown (well, one of the reasons why). It wasn't because it looked good, which, by the way, it really didn't due to her fair complexion and all her freckles. It was because she didn't want to be defined by the Weasley-red hair she naturally had. She'd first started dying it in her third year, and now that she was a sixth year, people were used to how it looked on her. No one questioned it anymore.

And then, as if the hair and the name weren't enough- Dominique was _Victoire's sister._ Victoire Weasley, her beautiful, blonde, popular, confident, adored older sister, who wore her 1/8 of Veela blood around like it made her the ruler of the world. Dominique couldn't stand how freaking _perfect_ people thought her sister was, almost as much as she couldn't stand being compared to her.

In fact, the first thing Dominique did at Hogwarts to distinguish herself as an individual was shout at the librarian, "I'm my own person, you know!" for reasons that are still being debated, getting herself banned from the library for a full month. That was the first story that spread about her that made people notice her as something other than Perfect-Victoire's sister, or Prankster-James Potter's cousin.

This gave Dominique a reputation as a troublemaker, and not the endearing "little rascal" prankster/jokester kind, like James or Roxanne- the rebellious kind who was not to be trifled with. And she hadn't minded at all. At least she _had_ a reputation. So she kept up the show. She got herself thrown out of classes, she snogged other girl's boyfriends in public so she could start fights, she screamed at first years to get out of her way, she was _always_ out after curfew, and she never showed up on time.

Dominique had pierced her nose over summer break, and there was a rumor going around that she had also gotten a large tattoo of a Hebridean Black Dragon on her left shoulder blade, even though she hadn't. There was also a rumor that she smoked and was on all kinds of drugs, which she didn't, and she wasn't. What she did do was wear too much dark eye makeup, streak her dyed-brown hair with bright blue and pink and purple and green (not all at once, but a different color for different days), and often wear hoop earring the size of bracelets.

There was also a rumor going around that Dominique had a lot of sex, which wasn't true at all. She actually was still a virgin. She'd never had a real boyfriend, and no boy had ever asked her on a proper date. There were a lot of things to be said about Dominique, and a lot of things that people did say about her, whether they were true or not, but if Dominique Weasley was anything, she was interesting. She was the kind of girl who scared first years, hated her family, and had only one friend. She was the kind of girl most people tend to avoid, and she was the kind of girl who not only didn't mind this, but encouraged it.

On this day, the first day of school her sixth year, Dominique awoke long before the first light of day, as she was often prone to do, and marched straight past all of her sleeping roommates and into their shared bathroom. She had started waking up this early a long time ago, when she developed a daily morning routine that required time and she couldn't very well do if she was being bothered by girls begging to use the bathroom. There was also something she very much liked about the sleeping castle of the pre-dawn hours. It was peaceful, and some had some sort of poetic quality that she really enjoyed but would never admit to enjoying.

She started her mornings with a shower, washing her hair with her color-stay shampoo. When she was done, she wrapped herself up in a towel and then went about applying her makeup, starting first with foundation to cover up her freckles as much as she possibly could- to the point where you could only see them if you looked very very closely at her (which hardly anyone ever did, as they were mostly too afraid to make eye contact). She then moved on to lining her eyes with a dark pencil, not bothering to touch it up with her wand like her sister had taught her- preferring the smudged look. She then added dark charcoal eyeshadow and 3 layers of mascara. When she finished that, she shook her hair out and dried it with her wand, not bothering to make it look neat and tidy, preferring the mussed look.

Once she deemed herself "ready", she looked at herself in the mirror and contemplated. It was early, and her mind was working on autopilot, mostly void of any thoughts, as she didn't realise until this one thought started to ring out clear in her mind: "I don't recognise myself."

She didn't see why this should be true, though. She had looked this way every day for years now. Or course she recognised herself! She just didn't see... her. And that wasn't a bad thing, she thought. Who wanted to see her?

And so she smiled her usual unhappy smile, and went back into the dark room full of sleeping girls. The clock told her that it was a little after 5:00, and she knew her roommates didn't wake up until around 6 or 7 on school days, so she still had some time for herself. She would normally put her pajamas back on if it was still this early when she was done getting ready, but on this day she was feeling a bit of those first-day jitters that a person gets no matter how old (or dangerous, or cool) they are, that were making her want to put on her uniform. She haphazardly threw on her shirt and robes, layering some necklaces over her loose red and gold tie, and some chunky bracelets on her wrists. She wanted to look dangerous, and like she didn't care.

She headed down to the common room next, not wanting to bother herself with being quiet amidst her sleeping roommates- not that she was particularly planning on making much noise. She took a book with her; another one about the events of the Second Wizarding War, which was one of her favorite subjects because she wanted to understand why her family was so famous, so well known. She wanted to know why people looked at her in awe when they heard she was a _Weasley_ , and why they were so interested in her relationship with her Uncle Harry.

She was only alone for about 5-10 minutes in the Common Room, however, when the portrait hole opened up- scaring her half to death- and Eli Davies (her cousins James and Roxanne's best friend and partner in crime) stepped through. He was wearing jogging clothes and carrying a weird round waffle in his hand that crunched noisily when he took a bite out of it.

"Grumplestiltskin!" he exclaimed when he saw her there, flashing his "oh-so-charming" smile at her. She just scowled back.

"Original," she said, returning back to her book, happy to leave it at that. Davies, however, was not so easily deterred. He crossed the common room and sat in the chair directly across from her. She only glanced up for a second, but that was all the encouragement to continue that Eli needed.

"What are you doing up this early?" he asked. She didn't answer. "Or have you even slept? Are you an insomniac? Or maybe you're just nocturnal. Is it because you're afraid of the sun? Because unless you're a vampire, it's really not that scary, I promise." He smiled some more, obviously finding himself very amusing, and Dominique paid him no heed. Maybe coming down to the Common Room was a mistake. "Because even though you _look_ like a vampire, what with being so pale and all, I didn't think you actually were one. I mean, shouldn't you be, like, trying to eat me or suck my blood or something right about now?"

 _Didn't you pay any attention in Defense? Vampires can be out in the sunlight- that's just a common misconception. And they don't_ sparkle _either, despite what you may have read in the Twilight Saga._ "Is there a reason you're here, Davies?" She winced as he crunched down on his waffle again. "And what are you eating?"

He looked pleased that she'd finally acknowledged him, and then he gestured incredulously to the waffle in his hand. "It's an Eggo Waffle!" he exclaimed, taking another bite of it for emphasis. That title obviously didn't mean as much to Dominique as it did to him, for she just continued to stare.

"Good for you?" she guessed, and he shook his head disbelievingly.

"I forget that you Weasleys are a wizard-only family." _You Weasleys._ She hated that. "It's a muggle breakfast food. Kept frozen in the freezer and then toasted to perfection! Mmmm. My mum's a muggle, you see." She ignored this random insight into his life that she hadn't needed or wanted to hear, and stuck to the matter at hand.

"Where did you get it?" She knew they didn't serve Muggle food in the kitchens.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He smiled mischievously at her. She just sighed and turned back to her book. Eli also turned to her book, as if noticing it for the first time.

"You read?" he asked, as she looked up at him again, obviously annoyed.

"You're still here?" she retorted, and he ignored this.

"I mean, obviously I know you can _read._ I just meant... I didn't peg you as the kind of person who reads, like, recreationally." She scowled again.

"And what kind of person did you peg me as, Davies?" His gaze turned contemplative, and she realised then that they had been holding eye contact ever since she had looked up from her book. She quickly looked away, trying to ignore that he was still staring at her.

"I don't know," he admitted finally, shrugging, "just not the kind who reads books."

"Well, you obviously don't know me, then," she said, realizing, perhaps a little regretfully, that hardly anyone did.

"Yeah, I guess not. Why is that?" This was the first thing he had said that had made her actually stop to think. It wasn't that the answer was hard, it was just that he'd caught her off guard. He didn't know her because she didn't want him to know her. She wanted to stay clear of him and his little group of "populars," that included both of her most obnoxious cousins, James and Roxanne. Also, she couldn't stand how highly he thought of himself and how charming he thought he was and his stupid little flirtatious smile that he thought could win him whatever he wanted. But what part of this could she say to him?

"Because," she settled on, not wishing to elaborate.

"Yeah, but because why, though? I mean, we're in the same house, same year. You cousins are my best mates, and I'm pretty sure you were there when I spent Christmas with your family that one year, not that I ever saw you. I mean... why don't we know each other better?"

"So you're saying you think we have to associate with each other just because circumstances beyond our control have forced us into the same vicinity?" He looked a little surprised at this answer, but considered it seriously before replying.

"I mean... yeah. Isn't that how all people start associating?" She chose not to answer this. Eventually, he pressed on with his original question. "So why? Why don't we know each other?"

She waited some more before giving him a response, until he started wondering if she was planning on answering this either. "... because I don't like you," she finally said, not worrying about hurting his feelings because obviously this kind of comment had absolutely no effect on Eli Davies' ego. As far as he was concerned, nobody could hate him. Even when they acted like they hated him, they secretly liked him.

"Why not?" he asked, smiling despite how rude she was being. Why was he always smiling?

"Because you're obnoxious and full of yourself and you think you can get whatever you want with just a smile and a wink."

"Can't I?" He retorted jokingly. That was it right there! So full of himself!

"No," she said curtly, glancing up from her book again to let him know that she was serious. However, when she looked up at him she felt herself suddenly quite stunned by the full-fledged grin he was giving her, happy little crinkles appearing around his very _very_ blue eyes. _Oh god._

"Oh," was his reply, and his grin never faltered, even when she gave him a withering glare and returned back to her book, determined not to look up again. She tried to read but found it extremely hard to concentrate with him sitting there, smiling at her. _Go away._

Eventually she gave up trying to get him to go away with silence, so she asked "Why are you still here, Davies?"

"Because you haven't answered my question."

"What question?" she sighed.

"The 'why are you up this early' question."

"Because I like to wake up early," she answered simply, which was basically the gist of it. "Why are you up? Had to pop back to Muggle-town to get your frozen breakfast or something?" He chuckled at this, and she pretended like she was still trying to read.

"Not exactly. I went for a run and then I got the Eggo's from my secret stash."

There was a pause before she responded, "Okay," because she felt like he was waiting for a response. She could tell he wanted her to ask about the details of this "secret stash," as he called it, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"So you always wake up this early?" he pressed on, and she gave another exasperated sigh. _Just let it die, Davies._

"Yes. And you're always this annoying?"

"Yes. Always," he agreed, grinning some more. A silence hung in the air after that, because she was absolutely done trying to make conversation with him. She had pretty much given up on him leaving her alone, too, when he stood up and started stretching.

"I guess I'll leave you to it, then," he said, and she gave some sort of noise in agreement. He was almost at the stairs up to the dormitories when he turned and addressed her again, "Hey, Dominique?" It was the first time he ever called her by her first name. For some reason, she was oddly surprised that he knew what it was.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be here again tomorrow?" She blushed a little bit, but he didn't see, because her back was to him. Why would he ask her that?

"Probably not, if you're gonna be here," she told him, mostly serious, a little bit joking. He seemed to think it was funny, however, and he chuckled.

"I guess I'll see you later then," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"I guess so," she answered, and then he was gone.

Dominique felt weird about it for the rest of the morning. The more she thought about it though, the more she was sure it was just a one-time thing. She'd never really spoken to Eli Davies before, and, let's face it, she probably never would again. They weren't friends. It wasn't even that they ran in different circles (because Dominique didn't really have a circle, she just had Alice), it was that his friends- mostly James and Roxanne- were some of the only people that she actively avoided. They just didn't make sense.

That's why at breakfast that morning, Dominique was firmly convinced that Eli Davies would not acknowledge her, same as always, and she wouldn't acknowledge him, same as always. And that's why it caught her by surprise when, as she made her way into the Great Hall with Alice Longbottom, he called her name and waved, smiling broadly. She waved back, and even gave him a tiny smile, as she tried to ignore her friend's incredulous stare.

"What was that about?" Alice asked as they sat down at their usual spot, and Dominique just shrugged.

"No idea," she lied, hoping Alice would just drop it. As she settled into her seat next to her one and only friend, she thought a little bit about the perhaps only interesting part of her conversation with Davies:

 _So you're saying you think we have to associate with each other just because circumstances beyond our control have forced us into the same vicinity?_

 _I mean... yeah. Isn't that how all people start associating with one another?_

And he had been right, really. I mean, Dominique had known it for a long time, but the only reason she was even friends with Alice Pomona Longbottom was because of circumstances that really had nothing to do with either of them.

Alice was sweet and studious and rule-abiding, almost Dominique's polar opposite. They became friends back when they were very young, however, back before Dominique had thought to be rebellious and before she and Alice had become so different. Back when they were just... little girls who liked to play dolls and fly trainer-broomsticks together. Back when Dominique hadn't hated her family, and she'd actually _liked_ James and Roxanne, because she was just happy to be around people her age.

It was around age 10 that Dominique started to want to be her own person, to break free from her stupid family. When they all came to Hogwarts, James was immediately cool, and he took Roxanne along with him. He could have taken Dominique too, but she didn't want to be associated with him, or any of her family, any longer. And he didn't take Alice with him (into popularity, that is) because Alice liked rules, and she didn't like to break them, so she and James- whose whole identity centered around breaking rules- started disliking each other.

It was then that Alice and Dominique had really become friends. When they both realised that they didn't really like James Potter, though everyone else seemed to.

And when Dominique started breaking the rules to get attention, and being bitchy and wearing too much eye makeup and all of that, Alice stuck by her because she (Alice) was a good friend. She would have made a decent Hufflepuff, Dominique always said. Besides, rebellious Dominique really didn't come into full bloom until mid-second year, and by then they were already best friends. And you don't just dump your best friend when she's going through stuff like that.

Of course, Alice had hoped it was just a phase. But when it became clear that it wasn't- that new Dominique was most likely here to stay- she had just come to accept it. Being Dominique Weasley's best friend gave you a certain amount of second-hand street cred, which sweet little Alice could never have on her own. And she knew what Dominique was really like, so she put up with the "scary bitch" thing as best she could. Besides, her best friend mostly didn't act that way around her. She just acted like herself.

"But why would Eli Davies wave at you? Did you guys hang out over break or something?" Alice asked, determined to get to the bottom of this strange happening. They sat some ways down from where Potter and his mates sat, and Alice craned her neck to get another glimpse at Davies. Dominique pushed her back into her seat with an expression on her face that read " _Please,_ Alice."

"No, I only saw him once or twice over break," Dominique assured her, though this wasn't altogether true- it was just an estimate. Dominique had actually seen him 5 times over the summer holidays, as he had stayed with the Potters for almost a month in July, but she couldn't remember any specific instance, or really having run into him at all. There was always family and friends around, she had just learned to block them out.

"But then why-"

"I don't know, Al! Can we just drop it!" Alice hardly seemed phased by this outburst. This kind of thing was normal for them.

"Fine. We did see him a couple of times though, didn't we? He was there when we all went to the Quidditch World Cup, and he was there that other time we went for dinner at the Potter's. And those were just the times I was there! You must have seen him more times than that..." she trailed off when she caught her friend's death-glare (Dominique was very good at those).

"I'm done talking about it," the angry witch declared, and Alice sighed.

"Fine," she said again, "But I don't see why you're getting so defensive. It's a perfectly innocent quest-"

"Alice!"

"Fine. Fine, I'm done, fine..."

"Thank you."

"So sensitive! Almost like you've got something to hide..."

"Alice, _please."_

"Whatever, Dom, it's none of my business."

"You're right, it isn't."

"I just don't see why-"

"Alice!"

"Fine! Fine, I'm done, fine."

 **The Dominique that I've imagined is a really misunderstood girl- she acts hard and cold but inside she's sad. I liked the idea of she and Alice being best friends even though they're so different, and introducing a new character who isn't afraid of Dominique and wants to take time to get to know her (aka, Eli Davies). Anyway, review if you enjoyed, and read on! -Maddie**


	5. HCOM Chapter 4- Hugo

**Authors note: So this is a chapter about Hugo and Lily. In the first chapter it was kind of briefly mentioned that they both have crushes on someone, so that's what this chapter is gonna focus on. It's Hugo's first crush, and let's just say he's kind of freaking out. Lily is cooler about the whole thing. Anyways, read on and I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns the Wizarding World and Hogwarts and (most of) these characters, not me.**

Hugo and Lily's Secret

or

A Whole New Year

Hugo Remus Weasley was thinking about girls. The thoughts had started back up about a week ago, when his trip back to Hogwarts became imminent. Going back to Hogwarts meant seeing Ellie Zeller again. And seeing Ellie Zeller again meant... he didn't know what it meant. He didn't know how he felt about her, or how he was supposed to feel about her, or what any of it was supposed to mean.

Girls hadn't used to be a thing he thought about. And they didn't seem to be a thing that any of his friends were thinking about. Ellie Zeller was the first crush he had ever had, and felt nervous even categorising her as such. How would he know if he had a crush on her if he didn't even know what a crush felt like?

But when he saw her on the train back to school- the very first moment he saw her- somewhere deep inside of him he knew. He knew what a crush was because he knew that he had one. On her.

She was wearing Muggle clothes, jean shorts and a light pink t-shirt. Her light blonde hair was to-her-waist long, and it was the most beautiful hair he'd ever seen. She'd gotten a bit tan over the summer- or as tan as a blonde girl can get- and had a light dusting of freckles over her nose. She had smiled at him, with new perfectly straight teeth, courtesy of Wizarding World orthodontics, fixing her teeth without the braces that a Muggle girl would have had to have. She was a little bit taller than him, he noticed to his dismay, but it wouldn't deter him.

She was just so pretty. And nice. And he liked her a lot. And he had absolutely no clue what to do about it. What does a boy do when he feels this way about a girl? Asking her out would just be weird. Besides, he had no idea how to even go about such a thing.

So, for now, he would just admire her from a distance. In anguish.

This is what Hugo was thinking about when he woke up on his first day of school. He sat up in his four-poster bed, and was confused for a moment about where he was. Then he heard the snores of his roommate and best friend Martin Creevy, and he remembered. Hogwarts. First day of school. Ellie. The thoughts appeared in this order.

Lorcan and Lysander (the twins) were both up already, as they had the same sleeping patterns as each other and often woke before the sun rose. Lorcan was tinkering with some Muggle gadget in the middle of the floor, as he was oft prone to do, and Lysander was singing loudly in the shower. You could barely hear him, but the fact that you could hear him at all through the closed and (practically) sound-proof door, meant that he was singing very loudly.

Hugo sat up and made sure that the rest of his roommates were accounted for. Martin Creevy- snoring. Cameron Clearwater- rifling through his trunk for something. Cooper Fabian- most likely somewhere in that lump of blankets on his bed. Andrew (Drew) Landon- lying on his bed (awake and already in his school robes) and tossing up a little golden snitch and catching it again.

At least Hugo wasn't the last one to get up. More often than not he was the last one to wake in the morning. He sometimes even slept through breakfast and Lily or Martin would have to come up to the room and poke him awake before first class. It must have been the first day nerves that had him up before at least a few of the others.

Not that he really had anything to be nervous about. He already knew a majority of the professors and most of his classmates. His biggest concern was, for obvious reasons, the fact that he was going to see Ellie Zeller again. Soon.

He rose from his bed and went about his normal morning routine, which only took three or so minutes if he didn't have to take a shower. He was totally dressed in his uniform and ready to go before any of his still-sleeping roommates had woken, so he joined Lorcan on the floor.

"What are you working on?" he asked, and Lorcan didn't look up as he answered.

"Just trying to sort out my computer. This happens every time I come back to Hogwarts. Have to do all kinds of adjustments to get around this magic interference with the system."

Hugo pretended to understand what he was talking about. He knew there was a way to get around the anti-tech magic in place at Hogwarts, but it was super complicated and required a some really advanced technical knowledge which Lorcan possessed, and Hugo definitely did not.

Lorcan was really smart about stuff like that. He was super interested in Muggle culture and was always going on and on about some kind of new Muggle technology. He was a bit of a dork, and overly passionate in a way that made people perceive him as weird. Both the Scamander boys were like that. Not so weird that you would avoid them, but weird enough that mean kids wouldn't hesitate to make fun of them.

In fact, their strange mannerisms and obsessions often distracted from the fact that both boys were really quite handsome, with sandy blonde hair and greenish-blue eyes. A fact that was not lost on Lily Potter.

Hugo knew about Lily's crush on Lysander, just like she knew about his crush on Ellie. He had caved and told her over the summer, on one of those nights his family had spent at her house. The two of them had been sent to bed around midnight, seeing as they were only thirteen, while the rest of the family (even Rose and Al- unfair!) stayed up and talked around the backyard bonfire. He was sleeping on the floor of her room, but both of them were on a sugar high from all the s'mores they had downed and were refusing, on principle, to go to sleep.

They were discussing going back to Hogwarts, and Lily had casually asked if he fancied anybody- most likely trying to bring it up as a subject so she could disclose the information that she, in fact, fancied somebody. Hugo had denied it at first, but he had flushed with embarrassment, as he was always doing, and had given himself away.

"You do!" Lily had gasped, jumping up and down at this new information.

"I don't!" Hugo once again insisted, but it was no use. She was going to have her way, and he was going to tell her.

"Who is it?" she pressed him, moving closer.

"Even if there was someone, I wouldn't tell you!" he said, but neither of them believed him. He wasn't exactly known for having an "iron will."

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed, and, seeing her opportunity to bring the conversation around to where she'd originally intended it to go, continued, "I'll tell you who I fancy if you tell me who you do."

"Wait, _you_ fancy someone?" he asked, completely surprised by this, though he really shouldn't have been. Lily Potter was secretly a romantic at heart. Plus, she was a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Kind of," she said, not wanting it to seem serious- which really it wasn't, though it felt that way to her.

"Who?" he asked, hoping to distract her from his secret. To no avail.

"Nuh-uh, mate. You're not getting off that easily. You have to tell me who you fancy!" she insisted, and he blushed again. He couldn't seem to stop.

"I'll tell you if you tell me," he wagered, and she chewed over the repercussions.

"I shouldn't have to go first! I asked you first!" she complained, and he saw some reason in this.

"Well how about if I guess it?"

"You won't be able to guess it," she argued, knowing that her crush was a little on the strange side.

"20 questions, then?" he asked, and she brightened at this idea.

"Ok!"

"Ok, first question. Is it a boy?" he asked, smiling playfully. She glared at him and swatted him on the arm.

"Yes, it's a boy!"

"Ok, then. No need to get so defensive, I just had to make sure. Second question: is he in our year?"

"Yes."

"Our house?"

"Yes."

"Ok, so that narrows it down a bit. Is it one of my roommates?" She hesitated for a second, knowing that once she disclosed this, there would only be a few people he had to go through before he guessed it.

"Yes."

"Martin?" he asked, afraid that she would declare that, yes, she had a crush on his (other) best mate.

"Ew. No."

"Martin's not _ew!"_ Hugo retaliated, and Lily laughed.

"Yes he is!"

"Well if it's not him, then who is it?!"

"Keep guessing!"

"Cameron Clearwater?"

"No."

"Drew Landon?"

"No way."

"Well it's definitely not Cooper."

"Definitely not," she agreed.

"Well then who does that leave? The twins?" At this she actually blushed. He'd guessed every single one of his other roommates before he got to them, that's how outlandish he thought it was. He saw her blush and was surprised, but he finally understood. "Seriously? The twins?"

"Well... not both of them..." she said sheepishly, embarrassed now.

"Oh my god, really? Which one?!" At this point, she was a little sick of all the guessing, plus she was worried if she made him continue to guess that he would, again, pick the wrong one. So she figured she ought to just tell him. But, as you may know if you've ever done this kind of thing before, it isn't all that easy to just admit it to someone like that.

"Lysander," she muttered, and even though she was very quiet and mumbly, he still heard her.

" _You_ fancy _Lysander Scamander?"_ he asked incredulously. She was starting to regret wanting to tell him.

"Thanks for all the support, Hugh," she said, upset with his reaction to this. She wouldn't have been like this if he had gone first.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologised, seeing that she was getting upset, "I support you, Lil! I was just surprised, that's all. And I'm not sure I totally get it."

"Surprised me too, believe me," she admitted, but she didn't elaborate. She wasn't sure she could put into words exactly what she felt for Lysander. She just knew that one day, he'd seemed... different to her. It was like all of a sudden he was more than just her goofy, weird friend who never failed to make her laugh. Instead, he was this boy whose mere presence could make her heart beat faster, and whose silly little comments stayed with her all day and halfway through the night. He was the boy who popped into her thoughts constantly, especially when she was trying to focus on something else.

But none of this could she explain to Hugo. It was too embarrassing. So instead she switched the subject back to him. "Now... who do you fancy?"

"Guess," Hugo said, and Lily considered protesting, but knew that Hugo wasn't going to tell her outright.

"Fine." So the guessing went quite the same way. She was a girl. She was in their year. She was in their house. She was Lily's roommate. In fact, their situations were _very_ similar. She wasn't Caitlin Fawcett, and she wasn't Aimee Weissman.

"Ellie Zeller?" Lily asked, knowing almost immediately that this time she'd guessed it right. Hugo blushed and she giggled. "Aww, Hugh, that's so cute! She's great!" See? Lily was much more cool about this kind of thing. She didn't make a face or say "Seriously? Her?" She was completely nice and supportive about it.

Ever since that night Hugo had regretted telling her. His crush was the embarrassing kind of thing that he didn't really want _anyone_ to know about, even if it was his best friend, Lily, who really did totally support the whole thing. He wished he could be as cool with her feelings about Lysander, but it made him unfortunately uncomfortable. Even sitting there with Lorcan, he was thinking about it.

Did she really find him attractive? Lorcan and Lysander looked almost exactly the same, but you could tell the difference between them because Lysander's mop of sandy blonde hair was a bit longer and always messier than his brother's. Both boys really were handsome, but in a secretive kind of way that you almost didn't notice. Until you did. And, now, because of Lily, Hugo found himself noticing it. Gross.

He moved away from Lorcan then, set on focusing on something else. Something less weird and altogether uncomfortable (like his cousin _liking_ Lysander Scamander).

Once his (other) best friend Martin woke up, he waited for him to get ready, and they made their way down to the common room together. There he met Lily, who was locked in a game of Wizard's chess with their older cousin, Roxanne. Roxanne was very good at Wizard's chess, and Lily was very competitive, so the game was bound to be intense.

"Hi, Hugh!" Roxanne greeted him, but Lily didn't look up from the board. She was making an important move, though she was bound to lose pretty badly, so it probably wouldn't matter. Lily's roommate, Caitlin, was also there, but Ellie was nowhere in sight (thank goodness).

"Hello Hugo! Hi, Martin!" Caitlin called to them, and they took seats next to her on the nearby couch. "Can you believe we're back at Hogwarts?! I can't even tell you how much I missed my bed."

"Me too," Martin agreed. They went on like this, chatting about the start of the new school year and what classes they were taking and how much they'd missed everyone over the summer. Simple stuff like that.

Meanwhile, Lily was letting her competitive side come out. She absolutely hated to lose, and she hated when things didn't go her way. Roxanne was simply more experienced (and better) than her at Wizard's chess. No one saw this ending well, and Hugo wondered why on earth Roxanne had agreed to this in the first place.

People began to gather around to watch, including Roxanne's partner in crime, James, and her boyfriend, Grayson Macmillan, who had just emerged from the stairway to the boy's dormitories. A few of the new first years, moving in packs and looking bright-eyed and innocently excited, noticed the commotion and gathered around too. Soon enough, half the Gryffindor common room was gathered around the board, watching Lily get her butt kicked in Wizard's chess.

The older students, with the exception of James, who was feeling rather conflicted, where all adamantly supporting Roxanne. The younger kids were cheering for Lily. The first years didn't even know what was going on, but they looked like they were having a great time cheering the young Potter girl on.

Lily was so wrapped up in the game that she didn't even notice when Lysander Scamander showed up, his blonde hair darkened to brown from his shower. Hugo, on the other hand, was fairly uninterested watching the drama unfold, seeing as the game looked like a repeat of the same one he'd seen a hundred times at home. With his family, if it wasn't Quidditch, it was Wizard's chess. So, of course, he was very _very_ aware when Ellie Zeller entered the room. He could feel himself blushing just at the sight of her, and suddenly felt like he very much needed to get out of there.

"Hey, Mart, let's go to breakfast," he tugged on his friends sleeve, and Martin shoved him off.

"Hold on a minute, mate. I want to see who wins."

"C'mon, Martin! You already know who wins. I'm hungry and I want to get my timetable." Hugo wasn't a very good liar and his best friend saw right through him. He knew that Hugo had some other reason for wanting to leave, and though he couldn't guess what it was, he decided to be a good friend and go along with him.

"Okay," he consented, and so they pushed their way around the crowd of people towards the portrait hole. Caitlin, who they had been sitting next to and talking with, felt abandoned (and wasn't too interested in the chess match either), so she followed after them.

Breakfast in the castle was served on a come-and-go type schedule. It wasn't the formal school-wide occasion that dinner was. Students woke at different times, so the breakfast food at the tables was constantly replenishing itself for the new arrivals. Breakfast ended at 10 o'clock. Sleep any later than that, you either had to go without breakfast, or head down to the kitchens to beg and/or bribe the house elves.

When they arrived, breakfast was already in full swing. Caitlin led them immediately over to their mutual friend, Drew Landon (who she loved to flirt with, though it was never clear if she actually fancied him or not).

"Drew!" she cried, plopping down next to him and throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Catie!" he exclaimed back, using the excited voice that he only used when she was around. Martin rolled his eyes as he and Hugo sat down on the other side of the table. "Where's Li-Lu?" Drew asked, using the silly nickname their friends had come up for Lily Luna.

He got three answers at the same time: "Losing a game of Wizard's Chess." "Having her honor challenged by her hot cousin." "Fighting to the death with Roxanne."

He understood immediately. They all knew how seriously Lily took any kind of competition.

Since it was the first day of school, it was all-you-can-eat anything-you-could-possibly-want breakfast day. A majority of their fellow Gryffindors were just stuffing themselves with ice cream. Hugo went for the classic double chocolate chip pancake option (with a healthy side of ice cream, of course).

Lily showed up about half an hour later, when the four of them were all finishing up, with Lysander Scamander on her right and Ellie Zeller on her left. She had her head held high, but Hugo could tell by her demeanor that she'd lost the game. She wasn't whooping and laughing and smiling like she would have been if she had won. Well, she was laughing, actually. At something Lysander had said, by the looks of it. When she spotted her friends, she linked her arm through Lysander's, and then through Ellie's, and steered them over towards the table. She made it look so easy. So... natural.

Then again, Lily was a people person. And Hugo definitely was not. Without her guidance, actually, he probably wouldn't have as many friends as he had. All of the friends he'd made, he'd made with her help. Once he got to know them, of course, he was comfortable around them and he didn't feel shy or nervous. But until then, he kind of leaned on Lily for support.

Once she sat down with them at the table she immediately started talking, telling some story about the time she helped her brother plan this elaborate prank on their dad. It was a story Hugo had heard before, many times. But the rest of them were really intrigued by what she was saying. As usual, when Lily Potter started talking, it was like gravity pulled towards her. Like she was the sun and everyone else was just one of her planets.

It was a little bit because she was Harry Potter's daughter, and she was _famous_ (by association). But it was also a little bit because she was _Lily,_ and she was beautiful and confident and funny and cool. Everybody liked Lily, they couldn't help themselves. They were also equally intimidated by her, which she very much enjoyed and took advantage of. Hugo often felt like he was nothing more than Lily's sidekick.

This bothered him a little bit, as it should. But it also kind of made sense. I mean, his dad had been a sidekick. His dad had been the most famous sidekick of all time. And she was Lily. The way he saw it, he really couldn't compare.

While the newcomers devoured their breakfast, Hugo took Martin and they got their timetables from their Professor. They were in all the same classes, as they'd opted to take all the same electives (Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Divination) at the end of last year. Lily was in all of their classes, too. They even had a free period first thing Monday morning, which was the best news Hugo had ever heard, actually.

As he compared his timetable with the rest of his friends', he saw that the majority of them had all the same classes together. Ellie Zeller smiled widely as she held their papers up next to each other and she saw their similar schedules.

"Brilliant! You're taking Divination as well?" she remarked, phrasing it as a question though she could already see the answer right in front of her.

"Yeah!" he answered, probably sounding a bit more enthusiastic than was necessary. "I've always thought it was interesting."

"I've always thought it was a load of crap," she stated simply. But when she saw his face, she added quickly- "But an interesting load of crap!" She giggled a little bit, and he laughed nervously. Then, as if she could sense that her cousin needed saving, Lily swooped in to rescue him from having an awkward moment.

"Look at this!" she exclaimed, shoving her parchment in his face and simultaneously pulling him away from Ellie, who had already moved on to the next person. "Jeez, Hugh. You really need to work on that nervous-laughing thing," she said once they were officially out of earshot.

"I know. I can't help it," he said glumly, glancing over to where Ellie was now enthusiastically chatting away with Aimee Weissman. Lily patted him on the shoulder to offer him support. Then she began telling him yet another story, this time about what Lysander had said to her on their way down to breakfast.

"I mean, it could all be in my head, but I definitely think he feels something between us, you know?" Hugo nodded like he knew, except for that he really didn't. And while Lily kept talking about feelings she was having and vibes she was getting and connections she felt, Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening.

And later, during their first class (Transfiguration), Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening. And, pretty much all day, Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening. The only other time he talked to her all day was at lunch, when their hands had met over the water pitcher, and they'd both said, "Sorry!" at the same time, and then Hugo told her to take it first. That was it, that was the whole exchange.

It was going to be a long year.

 **Oh, first crushes... aren't they so terrible? The next chapter is going to be about my two favorites, Rose and Scorpius! Very exciting! Please, please review and read on! -Maddie**


	6. HCOM Chapter 5-Scorpius

**Author's Note: This chapter is gonna introduce Rose and Scorpius' very complicated relationship. Basically, they're both really smart, compete for top of the class, and hate each other's guts. But recently Scorpius has been having some new** ** _feelings..._** **and that's all I'm gonna say for now! Read on!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and (most) of these characters, not me.**

Scorpius Malfoy's Big Problem

or

A New Potions Partner

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy had a girlfriend. Her name was Ruby and he liked her. Enough.

They had started going out over the summer, because their parents were friends. Really that was the whole reason. He had been bored and lonely at his parent's big summer house on the beach, and she had been there just down the way with her family. Their families ate dinner together often, and while their parents hung out Scorpius and Ruby got to talking.

They had chatted and walked on the beach, and Scorpius started to feel like maybe he could like Ruby Bulstrode. She wasn't ugly, and she was nice enough. He'd never had a girlfriend, but Ruby seemed like a good place to start. She was non-intimidating, in his same house and year (so they had stuff in common), and she seemed to like him. So he went for it. As, of course, did Ruby, who was all too happy to have the handsomest boy in her year- and perhaps even the entire Slytherin house- wanting to be _her_ boyfriend.

And now he was back at school and (though he hated to think of it this way) stuck with a girlfriend. He hadn't really thought of Ruby outside of a summer-fling kind of context, and now that they were back at school he didn't really know what to do with her. He hated to admit it, but he had plenty more options now that he was back at Hogwarts, especially since being with Ruby officially put him on "the dating market," which was all he'd ever really wanted from her.

That, and to get all of that awkward "firsts" stuff out of the way. First girlfriend, first kiss, first date, all of that. Of course, she wasn't his first time or his first love, but he didn't really want her to be any of that. The only other first he saw himself having with Ruby was his first break up.

The only problem with that was that Scorpius did not feel comfortable breaking up with Ruby. He'd obviously never done it before and had no idea how she may react. She actually seemed to like him a lot, and she wasn't the kind of girl who would just be fine with getting broken up with. Besides, there really wasn't anything wrong with Ruby. She was pretty (enough), and smart (enough), and funny (enough). And he liked her (enough). So why should he break up with her?

Maybe it was because he just didn't like her that much. Or maybe there was someone else he liked more. He just didn't realise it yet.

On this, the second night of the school year, the boys in the Slytherin fifth year dormitories were up late talking. They weren't as tired out as they had been their first night, after a long day of train-riding and feast-eating and moving-in and all that. They had also exchanged most of their how-was-your-summer stories, and were ready to dive right back into the usual Hogwarts gossip.

"So who's the most fit girl in our year?" Cornelius (Corny) Higgs asked. He was the kind of kid who'd had his first girlfriend when he was 9 years old, and he was glad that the other boys were finally catching up.

Callum Walsh, Scorpius' best mate, rolled his eyes, but the other boys all perked up, excited by this new topic.

"I'd say Ruby is," chimed Randolf (Randy) Flint, the biggest kiss-ass in the world, and Scorpius' unwelcome sidekick.

"Shut up, Flint, no she isn't!" said Charles (Charlie) Warrington, before casting a quick glance at Scorpius. "No offense, Scorp."

But Scorpius wasn't offended. It was true. Ruby wasn't even the prettiest girl in their house, let alone the whole year. "No, you're right. She's not the most fit," he told him. And he only felt a little bit bad about saying it.

"Well who do you think is, then?" Randy inquired. He had to know Scorpius' opinion on everything so he could have the same one. All the other boys were interested to see what Scorpius thought too, seeing as he was the sort of de facto leader of their group. He was the smartest, the best looking, the most adored by teachers, and the best at Quidditch. They all sort of looked up to him, in their own way.

"Rose Weasley," Scorpius blurted out, before he even realised what he was saying. The name just slipped out, and as soon as he realised he'd said it, he was appropriately horrified. All of his mates were staring at him oddly.

"Really, mate? Your nemesis?" Callum asked, and one or two of the others snickered. They all thought it was funny that Scorpius had a nemesis. And that everyone in the whole school knew the status of their relationship as enemies.

"I've always thought she was hot," Corny declared, somewhat in defense of Scorpius. In truth, every one of them had thought about how fit she was at one point or another, but none of them had ever said anything, because they were pretty sure that since Scorpius didn't like her, they weren't supposed to either. But was it ok now?

"B-but I thought you hated her?" Randy asked, feeling as if his whole world was crumbling around him. If Scorpius Malfoy thought that Rose Weasley was attractive, then he really didn't know anything.

"I never said I hated her."

"Yes you have," three of the boys chimed in at once.

"You always have, Scorp," Callum confirmed. "Changed your mind or something?"

Now Scorpius was getting embarrassed. All of his roommates were staring at him, and he couldn't think of a way to defend himself. Out of all the names he could have said, he said hers. And now that it was out there, he couldn't very well take it back.

"No. And I don't hate her. I just think she's a self-righteous smug little know-it-all who needs to accept that she _can't win at everything..."_ They were still staring at him, "But that doesn't mean she can't be fit, right?"

"I suppose..." Randy contemplated, still trying to wrap his head around this new information.

"I think Anna Walker is quite fit," Charlie said, effectively steering the conversation away from Scorpius and his nemesis. Callum cast Scorpius a look that read _we'll talk about this later,_ but other than that they let the subject drop.

And when later came, and all the other boys finally went to sleep, Scorpius sat up with his best mate, and they talked. Well, really it was more like an interrogation.

"So you fancy Rose now, do you?" Callum asked, a sly little smile on his face. He had seen this coming for years, and had just been waiting for Scorpius to notice it.

"No! I don't. That's ridiculous. I haven't even spoken to her since the end of last school year."

But this was a lie.

"Nuh-uh. You saw her on the platform yesterday. You said, 'Have a good summer Weasley?' and she said 'Why do you care?' and you were all 'I don't, I was just trying to be nice,' and she was all 'Since when are you _ever_ nice?' and you were like 'Oh please, I'm always nice. Besides, you have room to talk, since you're just _so_ easygoing and fun to be around,' and then she got all offended and was like 'Thanks for the lovely chat, Malfoy, it's so great to see you again.' Why am I telling you all this? You were there! Don't pretend like you forgot."

He didn't forget.

"How did you remember that entire conversation word for word?" Scorpius wondered aloud, but Callum wasn't about to answer this. He was obviously waiting for more from Scorpius, so Scorpius reiterated, "But, seriously mate, it was nothing."

Except it hadn't really been nothing. Not for Scorpius, at least. Because that wasn't the only time he'd seen her since the end of last year. There had been two other times. The first time had been the dream. Ok, yeah, so she wasn't actually there. But to him, it still counted.

The dream had gone like this:

 _He was taking a test. He wasn't exactly focused on the paper, so he didn't know what the test was on. What he was focused on instead was the wildly curly bright red hair sitting a couple desks away. He would know that hair anywhere. Rose Weasley. He felt a wave of dislike wash over him._

 _Rose appeared to be concentrating very hard on her test, and he got the feeling that he should be working on his. But he couldn't focus. And he suddenly got this horrible feeling that he wasn't doing well on this test. At all. He glanced down and saw this Muggle contraption sitting on his desk next to his paper. He recognised it from Muggle Studies. A calculator._

 _It was then that he realised that he wasn't even in Hogwarts. He was sitting in what appeared to be a Muggle classroom. Actually, it appeared to be his old classroom, from back when he went to Muggle primary school. And that was when he realized that all of the students around him were primary-school-age; about 9 years old. He couldn't tell how old Rose was, or how old he was. He felt around his current age, though, which was 15. What was he doing here?_

 _He couldn't fail his test, but he didn't know this material! He'd quit Muggle school years ago! And why was Weasley here? He couldn't let her beat him at a test!_

 _He sat there staring at the paper, which appeared to be some sort of advanced Muggle arithmetic, and he couldn't seem to understand any of it. Suddenly, he was being told that he needed to hand in his paper._

" _But I haven't answered a single question!" he exclaimed, as the teacher, who looked exactly like his grandfather but wasn't his grandfather, snatched the paper from his hand. He heard Rose snicker as she turned around to look at him._

 _That's when he saw her face for the first time. Dream Rose looked like real Rose, only... better somehow. He found himself stunned by the drop-dead gorgeous girl who was laughing at him. He couldn't even remember ever thinking of her as pretty before, let alone_ gorgeous. _This was weird._

 _The bell rang then, and as they left the classroom he ran to catch up with her. Suddenly they were in the halls of Hogwarts again._

" _How did you do on that test?" he asked her once he caught up, though he felt he already knew the answer._

" _Well I definitely aced it. And you failed!" she poked him in the chest and laughed again, but he couldn't focus on what she was saying. All he could think about was the tingling sensation he felt from where her finger had touched him._

" _Yeah. I failed," he admitted, unsure why he was even talking to her, let alone admitting that he'd failed a test._

" _You never fail, though. You're so good at tests!" she assured him. And that was when something in his dream-mind snapped. Suddenly, right there in the middle of the hallway, for no discernible reason, he pushed her up against a wall and kissed her. He had no idea why, he just did. And she kissed him back._

 _The kids in the hallway gasped, and then started to cheer, but they paid them no mind. He swore he even heard a few of Rose's obnoxious Weasley cousins shouting, "No, Rosie! Why?!" And for some reason this made her kiss him harder. He'd never kissed anyone like this before._

 _And then he heard a voice, an angry, very upset voice, cry out, "Scorpius?" He knew right away who it was. Ruby._

And that was when he woke up. He'd been "dating" Ruby for a week at that point. And he had been so freaked out that at breakfast the next morning that he hadn't even touched his food. His mom had even noticed that something was up and asked him what was wrong, but he hadn't been able to say a word. He'd just shook his head.

The second time he saw her was at the Quidditch World Cup. Of course, out of all the hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards there that night, he had to run into her. It was a little past midnight, and Germany had won, so all the people who were there supporting them were out celebrating. Scorpius's parents had been supporting Egypt, and hated losing, so they had gone to bed early. Scorpius, on the other hand, had been secretly rooting for Germany. He hadn't told his parents, and had donned Egypt's red and black with them, but when Germany had won he'd charmed his clothes Geman purple and white, and decided to go out celebrating.

However, he hadn't really had anyone to celebrate with, so he didn't exactly know what to do. He'd been sitting up against his tent drinking some of his parent's firewhiskey, alone, and even though his team had won, he was feeling pretty depressed. And that was, of course, when Rose Weasley had stumbled upon him. And I mean literally stumbled.

She had also been drinking, and was walking along and laughing loudly with her cousins Albus and Fred. She stumbled a little bit as she walked past Scorpius' tent, and then tripped over his feet, which were outstretched on the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sor-" she cut herself off when she was who it was. Al and Fred were too far gone, and they were so wrapped up in some joke one of them had told that they just kept walking along, not realising that Rose had stopped. "Malfoy?"

"Weasley?" he asked, also confused by her sudden appearance. She was flushed red from laughing, and her hair was going everywhere, shining with the light from the fireworks that were constantly going off above their heads. His dream came rushing back to him, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I mean, obviously she hadn't been there, but the whole thing had been very vivid. Something about her was different now. He couldn't believe that he'd never noticed it before. Or that he was noticing it now. It must be the firewhiskey.

"Jeeze. Where di jyoo come from?" she asked, still confused.

"You're drunk off your arse, aren't you, Weasley?" He had only had a few swigs, he definitely wasn't slur-his-words drunk like she was.

"Iyam not!" she exclaimed, sitting down on the ground next to him. "Well... maybe a little. Stole some firewhiskey from my mum 'n dad." At this he laughed, and when she looked at him funny, he held up his own bottle of stolen firewhiskey.

"Me too," he explained. She, in her intoxicated state, found this extremely funny and burst into a fit of laughter. She even snorted, like he knew she only did when she was genuinely laughing. Wait, how did he know that? Perhaps spending 4 years watching someone's every move (in order to make sure they don't get ahead of you, of course) could leave you knowing some things about them.

"Hey! You're wearing purple..." she started off exclaiming, but then trailed off, gently touching the end of his now purple-and-white scarf.

"Yeah," was his genius reply. Was she really stopping to talk to him? Her cousins had gone off, why wasn't she chasing after them?

"I don' think we've ever worn the same colors before..." she remarked, obviously referring to the fact that she was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin. He played as Slytherin's Keeper on the Quidditch team, and she always rooted for whatever team was against Slytherin. And when he wasn't playing, he always rooted for whatever team was against Gryffindor. Even though Gryffindor always won. Even in Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw matches, he rooted for whatever team he needed to win so that Slytherin could advance, and she rooted for whatever team he wasn't rooting for. Always.

"Maybe not," he agreed, and she giggled a small giggle that turned into a sigh. They sat in silence for a minute, and he tried to ignore that her knee was resting against his. He also tried to wrap his head around how weird this was. They'd never once had anything verging on a normal conversation before.

"Why're you by yourself?" she eventually asked, and he shrugged.

"My family was supporting Egypt, so..." She looked slightly sympathetic towards him then.

"What about your friends?" Again he shrugged. "Oh, c'mon, Malfoy, I know you've got friends!"

"Yeah, but your guess is as good as mine as to where that lot is."

"You could come celebrate with my friends!" she seemed really excited by this idea, not seeming to grasp everything that was wrong about it.

"Yeah, I'm sure that'd go over well," he snorted, imagining himself partying with the Weasley/Gryffindor-clan. Actually, he couldn't imagine it.

"Well, I don't want to leave you here by yourself!" she exclaimed, still not seeming to get the weirdness of this situation. Rose Weasley being _nice_ to him?

"I would say, go ahead, I'm fine, but actually..." he wasn't sure why he was saying this, "I don't think I should leave _you_ by yourself."

"Me?! What'dya mean? I've got Al and-" she seemed to realise suddenly that they were no longer with her. "Oh, bollocks!" He laughed slightly at her outburst as she struggled to stand up. He got up himself and helped her, grabbing her by the waist. So weird.

"Can I take you back to your tent? Which way is it?" He was trying to be helpful/comforting, but she was looking more and more panicked by the second.

"I don't... I mean, I think maybe... BOLLOCKS!" Her outburst only startled him momentarily.

"You can't remember where it is?"

"NO!" she screamed at him (now that was more like her), raking her hands through her hair and spinning in circles. She was about to lose her footing any second.

"Okay, okay, it's okay..." he assured her, grabbing her arm to keep her from falling down. "Do you have a cellphone?" Now she looked at him like he was the crazy one.

"Why in MERLIN'S NAME would I have a cellphone?"

"Because they're useful?" he asked, and she glared at him.

"Seriously, Malfoy? NOT HELPFUL!" she screamed, and he covered his ears.

"Can you stop screaming? You're gonna wake my parents! Don't worry, I'm gonna get you back," he promised. She didn't look convinced.

"How?" she asked, and he sighed loudly, searching for the answer. Then, it came to him.

"You were with the Potter's, right?" he asked enthusiastically, brightening at the thought of putting his plan into motion.

"Whaa?" she asked, staring at him.

"Bloody hell, Weasley! You're so useless when you're pissed. Was your family camping out with the Potter's?"

"Yeah... But was tha' got to do with-"

"Harry Potter is only the most famous Wizard in the entire Wizarding World!" God, his father would not be happy to hear him say this. "There are people who literally do nothing but follow him around all day and report what he does! If we can't find him, we can't find anybody!"

Rose contemplated this for a moment, until suddenly the brilliance of his plan started sinking in. "Of course! He's Harry Sodding Potter! Malfoy, you're brilliant!"

And so they went around, tent by tent, party by party, asking anyone who looked like they would listen if they'd heard that Harry Potter was camped somewhere nearby, and had they seen him at all? Soon enough a young witch with fireworks (the non-flammable magic kind) in her hair told them she'd just been past his tent.

"I swear I saw him, glasses and all!" She was ridiculously excited to impart the details to them. "He was even with his redheaded sidekick, Rob!"

"Ron!" Rose screamed at her loudly, frightening the girl- who couldn't have been very much older than them. "His redheaded sidekick's name is Ron, you twit!" Scorpius was quick to steer Rose away, apologizing to the witch and clarifying, once more, which direction the Potter tent was in. They headed off the way the girl pointed them, Rose hanging on to Scorpius' arm to steady herself.

A few minutes later, Rose suddenly gasped and ducked behind someone else's tent. No one was around. Clearly these people were Egypt fans.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"That's their tent over there! Oh my Merlin, my parents are right outside! They can't see me!" Scorpius peeked around the tent, where he indeed could see Rose's parents. Though he'd never met them, he'd seen them enough times. In books about the Second Wizarding War there was always one or two pictures of Harry Potter, flanked by his two _best friends,_ Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (Aka, Hermione Weasley). And he'd seen them in person on Platform 9 3/4 when he was being dropped off and picked up from school every year. He could always tell when they were in range because his dad would tense up and scowl in their direction.

Rose's dad was seated between Rose's mom and the famous dark-haired bespectacled man who looked very much like Albus Potter. They were surrounded by all these laughing (and probably drunk) people who all had the same shade of hair. Weasley-red. The same shade as Rose's out-of-control curls.

Well, okay they didn't _all_ have the Weasley hair. Just the majority of them. There was also three blonde women, and black woman, and a young man with a mess of bright purple hair. "Do they not know you're out?"

"Of course not!" she hissed, pulling him back behind the tent. "We snuck out! They're good parents! They wouldn't just leh us go out an' get pissed!"

"And yet... here you are," he said sarcastically, gesturing at her. She smacked him on the arm.

"Shut up! You've got to help me sneak back in!" And so he did. It didn't occur to him until later how strange this was. He didn't even think about it. Of course he was going to help her sneak back in. It wasn't enough to just get her back, he had to help her for as long as she needed his help.

But why? She wasn't even his friend. She was his nemesis, actually. The exact opposite of the kind of person you need to help out. So why? Maybe it was just... basic human decency? Yes, that must have been it. Nothing else. Definitely not.

And so, because her normally-very-clever brain was not functioning properly, he was, again, the one who had to come up with the plan. This one wasn't too hard to figure out. Their tents had protective charms around them, sure, to keep out stalkers and press and general Harry Potter enthusiasts, but she assured him that they wouldn't affect her. Because of who she was, she could slip right past. He, however, could not.

So Scorpius made a wide circle around the Weasley-Potter area, making sure none of the adults could see them, and together they crept along towards the back of the tent she identified as her family's.

Once they got about 5 yards from the tent itself, suddenly Scorpius found himself unable to go any farther. Her hand was wrenched out of his as she continued walking, and it was only then that he even realised that they'd been holding hands. She seemed to realise the same thing, then, and she blushed a tiny bit, but both of them acted like they didn't realise anything had even happened. He saw her lips move, and realised that she was speaking to him, but he couldn't hear her. He pointed to his ear and mouthed, " _Silencing charm."_

She was a little too intoxicated to read his lips, but she understood his meaning anyway, and crossed back over the invisible barrier to him.

"Woah. I totally couldn't hear you at all!" she laughed, again finding something that was only mildly amusing very amusing indeed.

"Yeah I know. Those are some pretty cool charms," he agreed, talking to her like she was perhaps a small child and not his arch-rival. She nodded in agreement. Then she blinked, and for a second her eyes looked perfectly clear. He could see it flash across her face when she remembered who she was actually talking to. Who he was, and who she was, and why this wasn't right.

"Well..." she began, and then there was an awkward pause. "Thanks, Malfoy. For not... being an arse, just this one time." And she smiled teasingly. She was teasing him. This was more familiar territory.

"Yeah, whatever, Weasley. You're just lucky I'm such a good person," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Lucky me," she retorted, but he could tell behind her sarcasm that she was actually grateful towards him.

"I'll see you in school I guess?"

"Yeah. See you in school."

...

And that was it. She'd gone back into her tent, and he'd found his way back to his own. And that had been that.

That, the dream, and the incident on the platform were the only times he'd seen her since they got off school the year before. But he'd spent plenty of time beyond that thinking about her. And stopping himself from thinking about her.

And now he was telling his best friend that it seriously didn't mean anything.

"Well I didn't think so either," Callum assented, "but then you said you thought she was the prettiest girl in the whole school..." Scorpius wanted to say that when he said that about her, that didn't mean anything either. But he knew Callum wouldn't believe that. He didn't even believe that. So instead he said nothing.

"Ah-ha!" Callum exclaimed, making Scorpius jump.

"What?!"

"I said 'in the whole school' and you didn't correct me! Before you only said 'in our year.' Oh my god! You think she's the prettiest girl in the whole school?" Scorpius was, again, appropriately horrified.

"You tricked me!"

"You fancy Rose Weasley!"

"I do not! Stop it!" And he didn't. Definitely not. Not even a little bit. Not even at all. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Callum went to bed not long after, seeing as it was a little after 3 in the morning, but Scorpius stayed up in his bed... thinking.

He didn't mean to or want to be thinking about her, it just kind of happened that way. He was thinking about how strange it was that he had said her name- out of any other name he could have said. Was Callum right? Was it because he thought it was true?

Thinking about it like this was getting him nowhere, because every time he thought, "Well... she is-(insert _not that bad, kind of pretty, really smart, etc.,_ here _)_ " he would cut himself off with a "no" or a "but."

He was freaking himself out a little bit, because just the thought that Rose Nymphadora Weasley could be anything to him other than a rival or an enemy was just... scary.

The next morning at breakfast, his heart rate quickened when he saw her mob of unruly red hair enter the Great Hall. He hadn't been looking for her (exactly) but she really was quite hard to miss. And he didn't feel the usual wave of dislike overtake him when he saw her, either. Instead he felt... intrigued. And then scared again, because where the hell was all this coming from?

Callum caught him glancing in her direction and shot him a knowing look, but he shook it off and continued to have his breakfast with Ruby. His girlfriend. Whose straight brown hair did not catch the light or swirl and turn around her head all mesmerizing-like. Or intrigue him at all really...

Oh no. This was not good.

He had Advanced Potions first that day, and he knew he wouldn't be able to focus. Rose was in that class, and he really wanted to stop thinking about her. Which would be very hard to do if she was _there!_

And then- as if the universe were, like, trying to punish him or something- the seating chart had her placed right in the chair next to him. Which basically made her, like, his _lab partner._

Her placement there could have been attributed to any number of reasons. Some may have called it fate.

More likely, it was that Professor Pidwidgeon (the Potions Master) had her own ulterior motives. She thought it was funny to mess with students, and she had seen for the past few years _exactly_ how well these two got along (which is to say, not at all). She thought it would bring a little drama and a little intrigue to her potions class, seeing as how Potions was not a very entertaining subject. She also knew that Scorpius and Rose were her two best students, and would do excellent work together. Work that she could use to shame the other students into trying harder.

It was a perfect plan.

Unless, of course, you were Scorpius, and you may or may not have just realised that you were massively attracted to Rose Weasley. Because, if you were Scorpius, this would be a major problem.

He took his seat silently, complaining with his eyes and his gestures. Rose took a similar approach, huffing over to her new seat and sitting down roughly. She crossed her arms over her chest and her eyebrows pulled together. She didn't look at Scorpius. Fine by him.

He wondered if she remembered that night. They had been so civilized towards each other. Was it only because she was highly intoxicated? If she was in her right mind, could she ever even pretend to tolerate him? Was this whole year going to be stony stares and angry remarks? He wasn't sure how much of that he could handle.

After everyone else was assigned seats and partners, Professor Pidwidgeon launched into introductions to the class and rules of the classroom (nothing they hadn't heard before). The only thing that was different from the years prior was the extra stress she put on the OWL exams.

"You will be assessed on all that you have learned over the past 4 years about how to make potions, and what to use them for. This year will be the hardest you've faced so far." Scorpius fought the urge to roll his eyes. There was nothing difficult about Potions. It was always his best subject, and the one he stressed least about. Though he was aware that not everyone had a natural propensity for it, which is why he didn't _actually_ roll his eyes.

When the professor was done with her whole schpeel, which took the majority of the period, they were left with some free time. Rose turned immediately to her friend Norrie Russell, who was seated at the table behind them, paired up with a Ravenclaw girl, Allison Nowak.

"Well this is just great," Rose said to Norrie, not even bothering to keep her voice down. They all knew what she was referring to.

"I know! I feel so bad for you!" Norrie said, glancing at Scorpius with unmasked contempt.

"Seriously?" he asked. "I'm right here." Rose barely looked at him.

"Yeah. We know," Norrie answered for the both of them. Oh. So this was how it was going to be.

"I'm no happier about this than you are, Weasley!" he addressed Rose directly. Again, she ignored him.

"Well, at least you'll get good marks," Allison Nowak butted in to Rose, trying to be helpful, surely. Rose scoffed.

"I could get good marks with _Randy Flint_ as my partner," she asserted, choosing Scorpius' sidekick because she didn't understand the concept of an _unwelcome_ sidekick, and thought this might bother Scorpius. It didn't. "Besides, at least Flint would stay out of the way."

Then, as if a horrible thought had suddenly dawned on her, she turned to Scorpius. "Oh, Merlin! Please tell me you're not going to try to sabotage my potions!"

Scorpius smirked, "Well, hell, Weasley! I hadn't even thought of that until now! Good idea!" She glared at him, and he tried to ignore that this was the first time since they had sat down that she had met his eyes. "Of course my dislike of you completely overshadows any other thought I may have, so naturally I would go out of my way to sabotage _my own work_ just so I could spite you!" He was, of course, being sarcastic.

"You've done stupider things," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest again.

"Name one." She couldn't, so she didn't answer.

"Just stay out of my way, Malfoy," she added, flushed bright red with anger.

"With pleasure." Merlin, she was annoying. What was he even thinking before?

He felt certain of his feelings then. He hated Rose Weasley. Always had, always would. If only he had known the real reason that her cheeks flushed red with color (and it wasn't because she was angry).

 **A.N.: I love to write these two- I think they're just so cute and they have a lot of potential as characters. My plan is that over the course of this year, their fifth year at school, they're gonna get a lot closer, but also have a ton more conflict between them because they think they have to hate each other, because that's how they've always felt. Please review if you liked it, and read on!**


	7. HCOM Chapter 6- Molly

**AN: So this chapter is about Lucy and Molly Weasley (the daughters of the endlessly annoying Percy Weasley). Lucy was introduced in the first chapter and she's the goody-two-shoes uptight Head Girl. Her younger sister, Molly, is her polar opposite. She's a crazy, out of conrol party girl. And Lucy's gonna have to deal with her... Read on to find out more!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and The Wizarding World and (most) of these characters, not me.**

Lucy Weasley's Sisterly Lecture

or

Wisdom from the Head Girl

Molly Weasley woke up unsure of where she was. She fought through the grogginess and the forming headache and forced her eyes open. The Holyhead Harpies poster (signed by the entire team) on the ceiling above her was her tip off. She was in dormitory. In her own bed. Phew.

Molly often left her room on Friday night unsure if she would be coming back before the next morning. And she'd had it happen quite enough times where she woke up somewhere in the castle that was _not_ her own bed, that she didn't even really think about it any more. She would wake up, do a quick evaluation of herself and her surroundings, realize (or take an educated guess at) where she was, and then ask herself if she remembered how she got there. Usually she did. Sometimes she didn't.

She racked her brain to see if she could remember what had happened the night before. It was difficult because her whole body hurt and her thoughts were still a little fuzzy and her head was throbbing.

The Annual Back to School Bash thrown by the Gryffindor seventh years the first Friday night they were back at the castle was usually one of the craziest parties of the year. Each year, the students tried to outdo last year's seventh years, and this year, Molly was pretty sure, had been one of the best. She'd been attending since she was a second year (though it was meant to be strictly fourth years and up), so she felt like she could give it an accurate rating.

The night started coming back, slowly, piece by piece. Her outfit had been on point- just the perfect amount of sluttiness- and she'd gone to the party with... Aaron Carter? No, it was Keira. But she hadn't stayed with Keira for long because Keira had started flirting with Ben Saunders. And then Molly had started flirting with Aaron. That's why she was confused- she'd arrived with Keira but hung out with Aaron. Merlin, he was fit. Had they hooked up? She searched her fuzzy memories...

They had! No shagging, but they definitely made out. And then... what had happened after that?

"Eh-hem," coughed a naggy, nasally voice that she knew all too well. And suddenly it all came rushing back to her. _Lucy._

She sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes and ignoring how much it hurt to move, to glare at her older sister, who was sitting on her trunk at the foot of the bed. Lucy glared back.

"Welcome back to the world," Lucy said sarcastically, getting up from the trunk and sitting on Molly's bed with her. She quickly scanned the rest of the dorm. They were alone.

"God, Lucy, go away! What, did you sit up all night and wait just so you could lecture me?" Lucy smiled her classically infuriating "I-know-more-than-you-and-I'm-looking-down-on-you-because-you'll-never-be-as-good-as-me" smile.

"Please, Mol. After I got you safely in bed," her voice was condescending as ever, "I went up to my dormitory and got a full night's rest. When I woke up, I checked on you, but you were still completely out of it- sleeping like a rock- so I went down to breakfast. And then I came back, and you were still sleeping. And so I waited. Muffin?" She held up a mouthwatering blueberry muffin that under normal circumstances Molly would have devoured in a second. Such as it was, she felt queasy at the sight of it.

"No thanks," she said, but Lucy shoved it into her hands anyway.

"It'll help you to have some food in your stomach." And she was right. Why did she always have to be right? She took a small, resentful bite of the muffin and tried not to vomit. Or enjoy it.

"Ok. Thanks for the muffin. Now leave." She knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Oh no. You're not getting rid of me that easy." Told you so. "We need to talk about what happened."

What had happened was this:

 _Lucy was monitoring the party, as was her job, and had just discovered that the punch she had been drinking was spiked with alcohol (she didn't even know about the extra cases of firewhiskey that were being held off the premises). Now, seeing as the majority of the party-goers were not of legal drinking age, this, of course, was against the rules._

 _So Lucy turned to the Head Boy (who was also one of her best friends), Corey Montague, and asked him what they should do. Corey was 5'9 (Lucy's same height), skinny, and wore thick, vaguely circular eyeglasses. He had a head that was a bit too large for his body, curly gingery-brown hair, and a sad, scraggly little beard that was more copper-colored than the hair on his head was. He was too smart for his own good, and spent most of his time coming up with intellectual jokes that would go over most people's heads. Lucy, however, found his jokes hilarious, and seeing as she was one of the few who did, they had bonded over this. She was secretly in love with him._

 _Corey was having a mild amount of fun at the party, enjoying a little sense of teenage normalcy for as long as it would last. But he was also a stickler when it came to the rules, and he knew he couldn't let them go so easily disregarded right in front of him._

" _Who brought the punch?" he asked her, but Lucy didn't know._

" _Do you think it was spiked when they brought it, or someone added to it afterwards?"_

" _I wonder if there's more around?" They always spoke like this, in questions, when they were "on duty." Together they searched the party, scanning the crowd and sniffing people's drinks and not caring who's good time they were ruining in the process._

" _Do you think there's some up in the dormitories?" Corey asked, and Lucy stopped in her tracks, pulling him to face her._

" _The dormitories?"_

" _Well don't you think-?"_

" _Corey! You didn't assign anyone to patrol the boy's dormitories?"_

" _Was I supposed to do that?"_

" _Why did you think I was giving Penny Higgenbaum all those instructions earlier?"_

" _Well…" But Lucy was already storming away. She headed straight for the boy's dorms, and used the spell to get past the no-girls restriction (which she thought only she knew because of Head Girl privileges, but was actually a very widely-known and commonly used spell). She marched up the stairs, Corey close at her heals, listening on each landing for noise and/or inappropriate behavior._

 _The first, second, third, and fourth years were all being good. On the fifth year landing, she found some giggling girls, who she promptly sent back down to the party after giving them, and the boys they were with, a detention each. On the sixth year landing, it was worse. There was a crowd of students, boys and girls, gathered around a closed doorway. A few had their ears pressed to the doorway, including James Potter, who was giving a play-by-play commentary for the rest._

" _Now they're… Oh my god, I hear bedsprings! And moaning!" Laughter all around._

" _What in Dumbledore's name?! Stop! Stop it, all of you! Detention for everyone, get away from there!" Lucy shoved them all out of the way, hoping that Corey was taking note of who all these people were, and upon getting closer to the door, did indeed hear bedsprings and moaning. She didn't even want to know who was in there. "Corey, since this is your fault, you can you handle this. I'll go check on the seventh years."_

 _The seventh year landing was relatively quiet. Most of the seventh year boys were down in the common room, enjoying their party. There was, however, one door that was left slightly ajar. She could hear conversations as she got closer, but nothing that sounded ridiculously inappropriate. Nothing like downstairs._

 _She was definitely unprepared for what awaited her._

 _As she swung open the door, she saw a few seventh year boys and some girls all sitting somewhere or another in the room. Maybe 10, total. She recognized her sister Molly's best friend Keira Connolly hanging on to Ben Saunders like she needed him to breathe. That was we she realized that she hadn't seen Molly all night, and wondered where she could be._

 _That was when she saw an all-too-familiar head of Weasley-red hair in the back of the room, on one of the beds. She was wearing next-to-nothing, her shirt discarded on the floor with her black lacey bra on display for the whole world to see. And she was tangled in a mass of limbs with some boy who was practically eating her face off. Lucy's baby sister was being violated on some seventh-year's bed!_

" _Molly!" Lucy screamed, startling everyone in the room who hadn't noticed her before. The Head Girl, who everyone knew, was scary just in general- scary on a good day. Now, as she stood there, fuming with anger… she was terrifying._

 _Molly had been a little too out of it to even hear her sister's scream, and continued wrestling with the guy in the back of the room. It was only when Lucy bounded across the room, yanked them apart, and slapped Aaron Carter across the face, that Molly noticed her sister's arrival._

" _Luce?" she had asked, confused by what was happening. Lucy grabbed her by the arm, yanked her off the bed, picked her shirt up off the floor, and dragged her out of the room. Molly didn't even protest, she was too busy trying to fight the queasiness she suddenly felt overcome her when she was forced to stand up. Lucy set her down on the floor in the hallway so she could turn back to the kids in the room and let them know exactly how much trouble they were in. Detention for a month- no, 3 months!- not to mention the point deduction they were going to get! Just wait until Headmistress McGonagall heard about this!_

 _Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Molly had vomited all over the floor. When Lucy came back out Molly attempted to argue with her, asserting that she hadn't done anything wrong, and Lucy was overreacting, yadda yadda yadda, so Lucy, who couldn't deal with that at the moment, put her to sleep with a quick sleeping charm. She wondered if she would be able to move her. She used Wingardium Leviosa to levitate her a few inches off the ground, and was able to get her back down the stairs to the sixth year landing where Corey was interrogating James about what had happened there._

" _So then they said they were going to- oh, bloody hell, Lucy, what happened?!" James exclaimed upon seeing them. Lucy was bright red with anger and the effort of magic-lifting a load as heavy as a person, and Molly had vomit in her hair. Not a pretty sight._

" _I can't-" she attempted to speak as she set her sister down again, gasping for breath. She decided an explanation wasn't worth it. "Can someone help me get her back to her room?"_

 _By "someone," she had, of course, meant Corey, seeing as he was the other person here, besides herself, who was at all responsible. But Corey couldn't lift Molly any better than she could. Maybe if they both…?_

 _While Lucy contemplated this, James walked right over and scooped the sleeping Molly up in his arms with little effort. Lucy was still furious with him for his stunt on the train earlier that week (and the stress zit that incident had given her), but then again, when was she not furious with James? And he was Molly's family, too. He stood there, frowning down at her._

" _Where's her shirt?" he asked, and Lucy, embarrassed that she'd forgotten, realized that she still had it in her hands. Together they lifted her limp arms and helped get it back over her head. Then Lucy sighed, rubbing her head, which was suddenly pounding. "Where to, chief?" James asked, waiting for her to lead the way._

 _Together, the two of them- with Corey lagging somewhat behind, unsure of what to do with himself- took Molly all the way back down the stairs. At the base of the stairway to the girl's dormitories, Lucy had to assure the new 5th year prefect Penny Higgenbaum that it was fine that these two boys come up- they had some business that needed attending to._

 _James was struggling a bit once they got up the first few flights of stairs, and was all too relieved to set the sleeping girl down in her own bed. He and Molly were somewhat close- they played on the Quidditch team together, after all- and he was sorry to see her like this. He kissed her lightly on the forehead, nodded to the Head Boy and Girl, and left swiftly after that. Lucy assumed he would want pardon from his offenses for his good deed, and she would probably end up giving it to him. He'd gotten away with far worse, so she didn't really see the point._

 _Lucy tucked her sister in, and after giving explicit instructions to Corey to please assign someone reliable to monitor the boy's dormitories, she decided to go to bed. She couldn't really handle much else, and she trusted Corey to do his job. And without trust, what did she have?_

So that's how they had gotten here, where we left off.

"We need to talk about what happened."

"No we don't!"

"Yes, we do, Molly! Merlin, you're 15 years old! You were drunk out of your mind, practically _shagging_ some seventh year-"

"Not just some seventh year, Luce! Aaron Carter!"

"You think I care who the chap was?! That's not the point!"

"Well what is the point? It's not like I've never shagged anyone before!" At this, Lucy looked rather shocked. She was a bit more ignorant about Molly's past than she would like to have thought she was.

"What?"

"Oh, come on, Lucy! Don't be stupid. Everybody's shagged someone!" Lucy hadn't, and Molly probably knew this, but at the moment she was just trying to make a point, not be any kind of accurate.

"Who?"

"What?"

"Who have you shagged, Molly?"

"Merlin! I'm not telling you that! Make an educated guess!" But Lucy wasn't enough a part of her sister's life to even begin to guess who it could have been. Had Molly ever even had a boyfriend?

"How many?"

"No! I'm not telling you that, either! Mind your own bloody business!"

"1? 2? 3? More than 3? Please tell me not more than 3."

"I'm not telling you anything!" The real answer was 4. "Now, are you here for a reason, or just to annoy the hell out of me?"

"I'm here because I think you need help."

"So this is like an intervention?" She was being sarcastic. Lucy was not.

"Yes. That's exactly what this is. An intervention."

"This is stupid. Last night wasn't anything special." And it wasn't. While it had been a good party, Molly had attended good parties before.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying where where you with all this last year?"

"Last year? You're saying that you've gone to parties like this before?" Molly didn't answer, just looked at her with an expression that read: _Um, duh?_ "When you were _fourteen?!"_

"Bloody, hell, Luce, stop screaming! You're so shrill sometimes."

" _Shrill?!"_ Lucy shrieked, rather shrilly indeed. And then, realizing what she'd done, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself before continuing. "Where do you even find parties to go to?"

As far as Lucy knew, there were only four or five parties a year. The back-to-school one, a few random Quidditch celebrations, the Christmas party, and the end-of-the-year festivities. All of these were monitored, and usually didn't get as out of hand as last night had.

Molly, however, knew the truth. She knew that there was a party (sometimes multiple) every single weekend, if you knew where to look and who to talk to. They were usually held in unused classrooms (after hours, of course) and protected by sound-muffling charms and such over the doors. Lucy, of course, as the Head Girl, would know nothing of these against-the-rules, strictly under-the-table operations.

"Like I would tell you!" Molly exclaimed. She sometimes wondered if Lucy fully understood the disadvantage that being Head Girl put her at. She could never have any fun, she could only ruin other people's. But then, Molly thought, ruining people's fun obviously gave Lucy some sort of thrill. It always had.

"Fine, don't tell me! But you can't go to any more of these parties."

"What do you mean, I _can't?_ I can and I will. You're not the boss of me." Both sisters were furious.

"I may not be, but I happen to have a direct line of contact to the people who are." She did _not_ just threaten to tell their parents on her.

"You did _not_ just threaten to tell Mum and Dad on me! Why don't you just _but out_ of my life? You're not my Mum, and you're not my friend, so why should I even listen to you?"

"Because I'm your older sister! Because I care about you."

"You don't care about me! You care about being in control."

"This isn't about me, Mol." Lucy had been accused by her sister of being a control freak one too many times to let it phase her anymore. It was Molly's favorite argument to use against her.

"Of course it's about you! It's always about you! You have to be perfect, and you have to run everybody's lives, and you have to be _in control."_

"That's not-"

"But you don't own me, Luce. I'm going to do what I want, and you can't stop me." She was being defiant, and she was quite enjoying how much it seemed to annoy her sister.

"You're only fifteen, Molly. You can't just do whatever you want, whenever you want."

"Yes I can," she insisted, crossing her arms and pouting.

"You're acting like a child. You're exactly proving my point." What Molly really wanted just then was to just be left alone. She was prepared to agree to whatever stupid thing her sister made her promise (no promises she intended to keep, of course), if Lucy would just _go away_.

"So what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to tell mum and dad on me?"

"No. I'm going to give you a chance."

"Ooh, a chance?" Sarcastic again. "Do tell."

"You're a smart girl, Molly. I believe that. You just… haven't grown up yet. You're completely irresponsible." Molly rolled her eyes. She'd heard the "irresponsible" thing just as many times as Lucy had heard the "control freak" thing. "And you're a fifth year now. Which means you have OWLs this year. Which you really need to pass if you want to have any kind of respectable job one day."

Lucy had gotten (almost) straight O's on her OWLs. O's in everything but Potions, which she'd gotten an E on due to one stupid mistake in the temperature of the flame messing up her entire potion and hence the whole practical portion of the exam. She didn't like to talk about it.

"Maybe I don't want a 'respectable job.' I want to play Quidditch, and you don't need OWLs for that." Now it was Lucy's turn to roll her eyes. She thought Quidditch was a complete waste of time and energy, not that she'd ever say as much to her Quidditch-loving family.

"Well that doesn't mean you should rule out all your other options by getting a bunch of T's on your exams."

"I'm smarter than a troll! I wouldn't get a T."

"I don't know if you would or not. All I'm saying is that you're not going to pass if you don't put any effort in."

" _All you're saying_ is that I need to be more like you."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt! I am top of my class. And I, for one, have never-"

"Shut up! Bloody hell, just shut up!" Molly had heard enough. "You're so judgemental! All you do is look down on me and judge me and try to make decisions for me! I didn't ask you for your help."

"But I'm still going to give it to you. I keep people out of trouble, Mol. It's what I do. So, from now on..." Molly waited anxiously to hear what terrible punishment her sister would inflict, and Lucy paused for dramatic effect. "You and I are going to hang out more."

"What?" Molly asked, not fully grasping the brilliance of Lucy's plan here. The plan, basically, was to keep an eye on her sister whenever she could, and keep her by her side on weekends and such, when Molly would usually be out partying. Watch her and guard her under the pretense of "hanging out."

"You heard me. We're gonna hang out! We can do all kinds of stuff together! Go to the library…" Molly shuddered at the thought, but the Head Girl was just getting started.

"Is that really necessary?" Molly asked, feeling queasy all over again. Lucy put on her falsely sweet voice because she knew it would annoy her sister all the more.

"Oh, don't think of it like that. It'll be fun! We'll be like those sisters who actually like each other and have posters that say stuff like 'God made us sisters, but our hearts made us friends.'"

"That's not a thing."

"Sure it is! Oh, this is gonna be so great! We'll have so much fun! Maybe I'll even take you on a patrol with me!" One of Lucy's duties was to patrol the halls after hours.

"Or not. You know, we'll see." Molly didn't really think her sister was being serious. She had no idea how far Lucy was willing to take this.

"Sure. We'll see," Lucy said, getting up from the bed and heading towards the door. "Hey, what are you doing later?"

"Gee, Luce, I don't know yet." _Most likely avoiding you._

"Well that's ok! I'll find you!" she exclaimed, opening the door and stepping halfway out.

"Like hell you will," Molly muttered.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, stepping back inside.

"Nothing!"

"Alrighty, then. See you later!" Lucy winked as she headed out the door. The younger girl groaned and flopped back on her pillow, knowing that Lucy never let things go, and was a very, very persistent person. She would never give up.

Out in the hallway, meanwhile, Lucy smiled triumphantly to herself before strutting off to the Head's office to file some detention slips and (hopefully) find Corey to tell him all about her genius new plan. She really did get a kick out of ruining other people's good time

 **Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Please, please review if you did. These two have a lot to learn from each other, however resistant they may be. Lucy needs to be less uptight, and Molly needs to start taking things seriously. Also, they need to learn to hate each other less. The next chapter I think is gonna be about Roxanne, who's only made a brief appearance so far. Read on! -Maddie**


	8. HCOM Chapter 7- Roxanne

**This chapter is going to focus on Roxanne Wealsey, who was briefly introduced in an earlier chapter as James' best friend/partner-in-crime. I felt it was time she get a little more development as a character. The premise of this chapter is that Roxanne is forced to hang out with James' girlfriend Chelsea, who she hates, for reasons that I will not delve in to just yet. She's also having some issues in her relationship with her own boyfriend. Read on to find out what happens!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and the Wizarding World and (most) of these characters, not me.**

Roxanne Weasley's Terrible Sunday

or

A Trip to Hogsmeade

It was Sunday afternoon, and after she slept off her hangover and had some lunch, Roxanne Weasley had plans to go down to Hogsmeade with her best friend James to pick up some supplies for their latest prank. Grayson Macmillan (Roxanne's boyfriend) had insisted he come along, which meant they were also bringing along Chelsea Creevy, making it a double-date kind of thing.

Roxanne hated Chelsea Creevy. She and James had been going out since the end of last school year, and Roxy had been sure they would break it off during the summer, but they hadn't. Roxanne thought Chelsea was bitchy and whiny and annoying, and had told James that she thought so, but he didn't really care. He liked her, and apparently that was enough to get past the fact that Roxanne (and all of their other friends, might I add) hated her.

She had tried to convince Grayson that he shouldn't come, that it was really okay and she and James could just go alone. Because as soon as Chelsea had heard that Grayson was coming along, she whined to James that she just _had_ to come too or else it wouldn't be _fair._

But Grayson couldn't be swayed. He was a little bit clingy and a little bit needy and had insisted that it would be fun and that he'd be super bored and lonely if she left him in the castle by himself. Because, for some reason, he couldn't just hang out with his _friends._

She was probably going to have to break up with him soon.

There was just no _spark_ between them, you know? At first, she thought maybe she felt something verging on a spark between them, though she realised later that this was probably because he was attractive and they got along well together. He was tall, he was tan, he was muscular. And he liked her. Who wouldn't want that?

But now that they'd been going out for a little while, she realized that she mostly just found him boring and annoying. She spent about as much time dreading having to hang out with him as she spent enjoying his company, and she took that as a bad sign.

The only reason she hadn't done it already was because of their friendship. She and Grayson had been friends for far longer than they'd been going out. And she really liked him much better as a friend than as a boyfriend. He was less needy, easier to be around. She prefered a more casual relationship. But, now that they'd gone out, she didn't think they could go back to being mates. It would never be the same, and she'd end up losing one of her best friends. And she really didn't want to do that.

In any case, now she was stuck heading down to the village with her annoying boyfriend and her best friend's ridiculous girlfriend. At lunch she tried to convince their friends Eli Davies or Michael Wood to come along- maybe liven up the mood a little bit, give her a reason to ignore Chelsea or something- but they'd both blown her off.

Wood said he had a day-date with some random Slytherin girl. And Eli had mumbled something weird about the library and run off. Very suspicious.

Pretty much ever since they'd come back to school Eli had been acting really weird like that. She'd been thinking maybe it would just wear off or something, whatever it was, but it didn't seem to be. She'd have to figure out what was up with him later.

Right after lunch, she and James and Grayson and Chelsea set off for the third floor, in search of the passage behind the statue of Gunhilda the Gorsemoor that would let them out in the cellar of Honeydukes. It was their favorite passage to take, even though it took about an hour on foot.

Roxanne had the Marauder's Map, and James had his dad's invisibility cloak- the two things that made everything they did possible. Usually these items were an _extremely_ well kept secret, but Grayson, as one of their best friends, had learned about them a while ago- back in third year, when they had needed help with a prank. Then, James had slipped and told Chelsea a little while after they started dating, because she'd begged to know the secret behind their awesome pranks. Roxanne had begged him not to tell her, and hadn't talked to him for a week after she found out that he did.

Once they got to the right spot in the hallway, James whispered the password, " _Dissendium."_ The hump on the back of the statue rose up to reveal the slide that lead down to the tunnel. Chelsea gasped and took a step back.

"We have to go down _there_? It's filthy!" she exclaimed, and Roxanne resisted the urge to laugh.

"What, do you think they clean the secret passageways?" she asked, and Chelsea glared at her. James also gave her a look, one that read "please be nice." Yeah, right, James.

Grayson didn't mind the dirt at all and slid down first, with Roxanne not too far behind. James stayed up at the top to persuade/console/assure his stupid girlfriend, and so, after some convincing, she was the next one down. James followed suit, and soon they were all standing in the dark.

Roxanne casted a quick Lumos charm, as she was the only one who ever thought of practical stuff like that. The rest of these losers were perfectly content to just stand in the dark, waiting for something to happen. The tip of her wand let out a dull glow, but it was enough for them to see what they needed.

They started walking along down the tunnel, and it wasn't long before Chelsea started whining.

"What is that _smell?_ It's so gross down here! How far does this bloody tunnel go, anyway?"

"It's about an hour walk," James said consolingly, taking her hand. Roxanne had to force herself not to gag.

"An _hour?"_

"Yep, an hour."

"And we've been walking for how long?" Grayson whispered conspiratorially to Roxanne.

"Feels like an hour, at least," she whispered back, and they both snickered quietly. Not quietly enough, apparently, because Chelsea narrowed her eyes, knowing they were laughing at her.

"So I heard an _interesting_ story at the party last night..." she began, waiting for them to show interest in what she was saying. James was the only one who seemed to even remotely care. "My friend Olive apparently had a conversation with _Conrad Jordan."_

Something about the name caught Roxanne's attention, and Chelsea smiled triumphantly.

"Oh, man! Conrad! I haven't seen that chap in forever!" James exclaimed, reminiscing on old times. Roxanne stared at him in confusion.

"James, we literally have three classes with him," Roxanne said, and now it was James' turn to look confused.

"We do?" he asked, and Chelsea cleared her throat loudly, wanting to get the conversation back around to where she'd intended it to go.

" _Anyway…"_ she said in her whiny voice, and Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Olive was talking with him- who knows why- and it turns out…" she paused for dramatic effect, "that he's totally in love with Roxanne!" James started laughing, like this was ridiculous. Grayson, on the other hand, was suddenly taking this conversation very seriously.

"He's _what?"_ James asked, still laughing a bit.

"Apparently he just wouldn't stop talking about her! He didn't come right out and say it, but Olive could tell, obviously. She knows about these kind of things."

Roxanne didn't want to be a part of Chelsea's stupid gossip- she didn't want to give her the satisfaction- but she couldn't help her curiosity. "What was he saying?"

Grayson turned to Roxanne. "You know this chap, do you? Are you friends with him?" He was being very accusatory, as if he had any reason to question her faithfulness.

"Will you calm down? I used to know him, alright?" she brushed it off.

"Yeah, we used to be mates with Jordan, before Hogwarts," James supplied the necessary background.

"A _long_ time ago," Roxanne added, to reassure her obnoxiously protective boyfriend. Grayson mulled this over.

"Is this Jordan like _Lee Jordan?"_ he asked, as if this had just occurred to him. Lee Jordan was rather famous radio personnel, most known for his Quidditch commentary and radio comedy program. He was also a close personal friend of Roxanne's parents.

"Yes, Jordan as in Lee Jordan," Roxanne confirmed. "And River Jordan," she added as an afterthought. River Jordan was Conrad's younger sister, a fourth year, who did all the commentary for the Quidditch games. She was quite enthusiastic about the whole thing, and started commenting right as soon as she got to Hogwarts, replacing Kyle Millinger- the fairly apathetic announcer who had come before her.

"And I've never heard of him before because…?" Grayson asked, causing Roxanne to sigh deeply with aggravation.

"Because you don't pay attention?" Roxanne replied, and James laughed again. This did not help improve Grayson's mood.

" _So..."_ Chelsea butted in again, "did you know he fancied you?"

Actually, Roxanne had basically known that Conrad Jordan fancied her ever since their first year at Hogwarts. They were pretty good friends before coming to Hogwarts, and a little ways into their first year. Conrad was sorted as a Hufflepuff, however, and this caused them to drift apart as they started their time at school.

Then, around the middle of their first year, Roxanne got her first boyfriend. His name was Bradley Finnern, and he was really nothing more to her than a boy she held hands with and kissed a few times and walked to classes with for a couple weeks.

Conrad had gotten really upset with her when she started liking Bradley, and would say all this terrible stuff about him and try to convince her not to go out with him. When they actually did officially become a "couple," Conrad stopped talking to her. And Roxanne, being the naive little girl that she was, hadn't understood why.

She asked her cousin Victoire, who was a sixth year at the time, for advice. Victoire told her exactly what anyone who had eyes could see- that Conrad fancied her. But she didn't feel that way about Conrad, and because she was too nervous to confront him about it and was afraid of hurting his feelings, she avoided him. And they hadn't really spoken since.

The truth of the matter was that Roxanne had skyrocketed into popularity when she came to Hogwarts, and Conrad had… done basically the opposite. These days he spent most of his time alone, or with his cat named Dobby (after Harry Potter's house-elf friend who was famous for starting the campaign to free all house-elves, of course).

"No, I didn't know," she lied. "And what was he saying about me?" Chelsea scoffed, like Roxanne was the one being annoying.

"Like I would know! I wasn't even the one who talked to him. You should ask Olive." Roxanne once again rolled her eyes. Like she would ever in a million years talk to Olive Bennett. The girl was in love with Grayson, and hated Roxanne's guts (for obvious reasons). In fact, she was probably making up the whole Conrad thing just to get under her skin.

"I bet you Olive's making it up. She probably doesn't remember anything he said, either, she was so hammered." Chelsea looked offended, and James shot Roxanne another pleading look. Why did he have to bring her along?!

"She wouldn't just make it up! And I had the same amount of drinks as her, so I know how drunk she was." Roxanne and Grayson both shot her a pointed look, and she blushed dark red. "Oh, sod off! Stop pretending like you know anything about me!" She crossed her arms and huffed, skulking off down the passageway into the dark.

"Honestly, mates?" James said to them before hurrying after her.

"Honestly, James?" Roxanne mumbled, and Grayson sighed in agreement.

Sound traveled far in the tunnel, so even though Chelsea probably thought they were out of earshot, they could hear everything she was saying.

"I didn't even have that much to drink!" she was complaining to James. _Yes she did._ "You were with me the whole night, you know!" _No he wasn't._ "Why do you let her pick on me like that?" _Oh, sure,_ I _pick on_ you _. Uh huh. "_ I was just trying to make conversation! I only want them to like me!" _Yeah right._

James sounded very sympathetic when he responded. Roxanne found it hard to determine if he actually believed her or if he was just faking it. James was usually pretty fake around girls so they would like him, but he was also very kind to people he cared for. And she really wasn't sure which one Chelsea was. Was she just another girl, or did James actually really like her? And if that was the case, _why?!_ Why her?

Chelsea and James walked ahead for the rest of the way down to Hogsmeade. Once they got to the ladder that led up to the cellar of Honeydukes, they debated on whether or not they should use the cloak. They knew they didn't all fit under it, so there was a small argument over who should take it. Everything seemed like an argument between them, these days.

Eventually they decided that James would go with Chelsea under the cloak, because Chelsea was too afraid to go without it and too afraid to stay behind, and no one but James would go under it with her.

Turns out they didn't need the cloak, however, as it was Sunday and Honeydukes closed at 1 on Sunday's, which it was now past. They crept up the ladder and to the main floor, which was dark and abandoned. They snuck around to the back door and Roxanne used _Alohomora_ to unlock it.

Once out in the street, they made their way over to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. There was also a Zonkos Joke Shop in Hogsmeade, but they most sold the old-fashioned stuff. James and Roxanne were more about the _new._ They wanted to be innovators in the world of pranks, just like Fred and George had. Besides, being not only a Weasley, but the daughter of George Weasley (the founder of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and a variety of other shops operating under Fred and George Enterprises) himself, she got an 80% discount on all in store items.

On the way over, Chelsea asked- "So what is this prank again?"

"We're blowing up the broom shed," Roxanne replied simply, not much wanting to dive into the details of _why_ they were blowing up the broom shed. When Chelsea asked the inevitable "why," however, James was more than happy to supply the necessary background.

"Well, first off, because we hate Madam Hooch," he began.

"Why?" Chelsea asked, "She's not so bad."

"She's fine if she likes you- but she hates us. I guess she had some issues with my granddad. You know, the first James Potter? I don't know for sure, I never got the details, but I just know that she groaned and said 'Not another James Potter!' when she first met me.

"Anyhow, she was very rude to us during first year and forced us to ride the school-provided trainer broomsticks, which are actually much harder to control if you're an experienced flyer, which we were at that point.

"Then, during fourth year, when we had this brilliant idea to start a Flying Club, where basically students would just fly around the grounds for fun- you know, because flying is right fun- and she completely shut us down! She refused to be our moderator and convinced Headmistress McGonagall not to let us have the club. For 'safety reasons'" He put air quotes around "safety reasons," making Grayson laugh.

"It would have been perfectly safe if we had a moderator with us!" Roxanne repeated what they'd said a million times after their idea had been rejected to make themselves feel better.

"Exactly!" James agreed before continuing. "Then, just last week after the welcome ceremony me and Rox were taking our annual back-to-school flight around the castle, as we do, and she spotted us with her creepy hawk-eyes. So of course she turned us in, and we got in heaps of trouble and now have another month of detention to add on to our 5 carry over months from last year."

"5?" Chelsea asked disbelievingly.

"6, now," Grayson corrected her, and they all glared at him.

"It was a busy year," James shrugged.

"So we're blowing up her shed," Roxanne stated again, disliking how un-mysterious the whole thing was now. She loved being mysterious- the girl who blows stuff up for reasons unknown and gets away with it- but James was perfectly happy blabbing and ranting about all their schemes to anyone who asked. A vast majority of their detentions resulted from his blabbing.

When they got to the shop, they were greeted with a warm welcome from the staff. When she was a first year Roxanne had told the manager, whose name was Martin, that if he was good to her she could talk him up to her dad, and possibly get him a serious promotion (and raises for all of his employees). Martin had wholeheartedly believed that the eleven year old girl could help advance his career, so he'd ordered the entire staff to be nice to her and give her whatever she wanted. Now, even though he had yet to get his promotion, she and Martin were like old friends.

Their good standings with the staff were also a bonus because it helped them get ahold of any off-limits-to-students items they wanted. There was a whole section of the store that contained products that were considered "too disruptive, harmful, or dangerous when placed in the hands of students," by the headmistress, and were therefore off-limits. Usually when these products were used at the school, it was blamed on students bringing items from home or having items mailed to them- which the school did little to regulate. Though there had been a handful of times when ambassadors from the school had come down to the shop, inquiring about which students had bought the "Screaming Banshee Rockets," or the "Turn-Clean-Floors-Into-Sludge Spray" (patent pending). Martin and his staff never snitched.

They went around the store looking for: "anything that explodes," in the words of James. In the end they bought far more explosives than they would ever need for one tiny shed, and a few other new items that looked interesting. The broom shed would do far more than just explode: it would go up in colorful flames, make a variety of loud and obnoxious noises, and probably let off a series of fireworks in different multicolored shapes. It was going to be glorious.

They were excited to see that their "Hee-haw!" spray was now a fully operational and high selling product. They had pitched the idea to Roxanne's dad, and it had been his job to get it to actually work. Well, he had a team that did that for him now, but you get the picture. He was still the final tester of all the products before they were put on sale. The "Hee-haw! spray basically made people make random involuntary noises for a few hours if you sprayed it in their face and they inhaled it.

They'd made a few other pitches to George, but none of them had gone over that well. They were either impossible, impractical, or downright dangerous. They were still working on their idea-development skills, but they were getting better.

On the way back to the passageway, and back to the school, they debated stopping at the Three Broomsticks. Roxanne was tired and wanted to get back so she could lounge around for the rest of her Sunday. Grayson had a paper to write by Friday that he wanted to get a head start on (which was probably nothing more than a lame excuse to get out of spending more time with Chelsea). But Chelsea was craving a butterbeer. And James just wanted to keep Chelsea happy- presumably because when she was in a mood, she was the worst possible kind of company.

So they decided to split up. Thank goodness. James and Chelsea went off to have their butterbeer, and Roxanne and Grayson started the walk back together.

The split up turned out to be a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing, obviously, because they didn't have to walk back with the most obnoxious girl on the planet. But it was a curse because Roxanne and Grayson had to be alone together. And talk to one another. And they ended up in a fight.

"So do you actually have a paper to write?" Roxanne asked, trying to start a casual conversation.

"No, I just wanted to get away from _her."_ He shuddered a little bit, and while she was glad that someone agreed with her on how terrible James' girlfriend was, she was still annoyed at him.

"You know it's your fault she even came."

"What? How is it my fault?"

"Because you insisted on coming, and so she thought it was like a 'bring a date,' thing and she thought she had to come too!" Roxanne was half-serious half-joking, but Grayson was taking it completely seriously. He took too many things seriously. That was another thing she couldn't stand about him.

"What do you mean, I _insisted_ on coming? I thought it would be fun for us to hang out together." Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please! We hang out _literally_ all the time. I told you not to come!"

"You didn't tell me not to come! You said: 'you don't have to come if you don't want to,'" he put on a girl voice that was extremely irritating.

"Which is how you nicely say 'please don't come!'"

"If you really didn't want me to come, that's what you should have said!"

"And how would you have taken that? ' _I really don't want you to come, Grase, please stay here._ '"

"Well, for starters, I probably wouldn't have come, and then we wouldn't be having this stupid fight!"

"Oh, so this is a fight?"

"That's what it seems like you want." Now she was really getting mad.

"Please, Grayson! You're the one who's always trying to start fights. What was all that earlier when she mentioned Conrad, huh? You were all 'Who's this? Should I be threatened by him? Are you talking to other chaps who aren't me?'"

"We're back on that now?"

"Well, yeah! Because you were acting ridiculous and it needs to be addressed. I am allowed to talk to chaps who aren't you. And I do. All the time."

"What was that?!"

"What?"

"That, 'I talk to other chaps all the time," stuff! Are you trying to make me jealous or something? Because I don't care if you talk to people who aren't me, Roxanne!" This was a lie.

"Oh please! You can't stand it when I talk to other guys. You get so jealous all the time! It's like you don't trust me."

"It's not that I don't trust you. It's that I worry about you."

"Well stop worrying about me! I don't need you to worry about me. I can take care of myself. I also don't need you nagging me all the time!"

"Nagging?"

"Yes! Nagging! You whine and you nag at me all the time!"

"I do not! Name one time."

She barely hesitated to come up with an instance. "Ok, like every time you asked me to hang out this summer. Any time I'd say I had something else going on you'd be like- 'What are you doing? What could possibly be more important than spending time with me? Just drop it and come over.' And then when I'd be like 'I seriously can't,' you'd get all mad at me."

"That's ridiculous! I'm not going to apologise for wanting to spend time with my girlfriend!"

"Wanting to spend time with me is one thing. Insisting that I drop whatever I'm doing just because you're bored is another thing altogether!"

"That's not what I do! I just want to hang out with you and you just come up with excuse after excuse to get out of it. It's like you don't even want to be around me!" Roxanne hated the fact that this was a little bit true.

"Do you ever think that maybe I'm not 'coming up with excuses,' but that I actually have stuff going on in my life that you aren't involved in?"

"Of course you have your own stuff going on, and I get that, but you never even try to make time for us."

"It's just that I literally see you every single day- I'm sorry if I don't feel like I have to make time to see you, because I feel like I do nothing _but_ see you. Again and again and again. There you are."

"I'm talking about _alone time,_ Rox. Just you and me."

"Why, so we can fight more? As soon as we were left alone we started arguing. How is that supposed to make me want more alone time with you?"

"This fight is stupid! It doesn't have to be like this! We used to like being alone together."

"Yeah, I wonder why that stopped." The way she said it wasn't serious, however. It was sarcastic. And it ticked Grayson off.

"You can be a real bitch sometimes," he said, stalking off down the tunnel.

"Fuck off, Grayson!" she called after him, but he was already gone.

When she could no longer hear his footsteps, she started to cry.

Roxanne Weasley was not the type of girl who cried very often, so this was kind of a big deal. It was the result of an accumulation of things- her fight with Grayson, the fact that it seemed like James would take Chelsea's side over hers, how tired she was. Once the first tears slipped out and she didn't stop them, her emotions flowed over until she couldn't stop if she wanted to.

When she got back to the school, she was still crying. She stopped and sat against the wall outside of the statue of Gunhilda the Gorsemoor and wiped her eyes again and again, trying to calm herself down.

Though she hadn't altogether stopped crying, once she felt a little more in control she got up and started the walk back to the Common Room. On her way up to the seventh floor, because ridiculous things like this seemed to always be happening to her, who should she see walking down the stairs around the fifth floor but Conrad Jordan himself. He had his same lanky build and his same curly hair and his same thick glasses that he'd always had. She hadn't thought about him in such a long time, and found it weird that she still recognized the way he walked.

She was hoping and praying that he would just keep walking, pretend like he couldn't see her. No such luck.

His steps faltered when he noticed her a little ways down the stairs, and he slowed down his pace as he approached her, as if he was afraid.

"Roxanne?" he asked, and the way he said her name brought on a bunch of painful memories that made a few more tears slip out. "Are you okay?"

She couldn't resist- "What a stupid question to ask someone who's crying."

"I'm sorry," he said as he got closer, and he sounded like he genuinely meant it. "Would it be another stupid question to ask _why_ it is you're crying?"

"Probably," she admitted, wiping her eyes again. She could feel how red and puffy they were.

"Okay, then." That was all he said. And then he stopped next to where she stood and sat down on the steps. She looked at him, and he looked at her, and they said nothing. And then she sat down next to him and cried a little bit more, because she couldn't help it.

After a while, when she had calmed down a bit, he decided it was okay to speak again. "Is this one of those situations where you want to be left alone?"

"Well, if it was, you're already here, so…" she shrugged.

"Right." Conrad always had been a man of few words.

Roxanne was fully prepared to feel extremely weird around him. Their shared past, plus the fact that rumors were circulating about him fancying her, made this the perfect recipe for an awkward situation. But, for some reason, it didn't feel awkward. Everything about Conrad felt comfortable, like a worn-in glove. Which was strange in of itself.

"Are you alright now?" he asked after she'd stopped crying altogether.

"Honestly?"

"If you prefer."

"I think I'll be fine." Her voice was scratchy and thick.

"You don't cry very often. It must have been bad, whatever it was." He said it with no judgement in his voice.

"How do you know?"

"Remember when we were 8, and you fell of your broom and broke your arm? You didn't cry then. And that was _really_ bad." She smiled lightly.

"Of course I remember that. Burned into my brain." He chuckled- an oddly familiar sound.

"I actually think I was the one who cried," he joked.

"That's right! You were so squeamish around blood. Are you still like that?"

"Of course. But I've been trying to get over it. I donate once a month." She stared at him in amazement.

"Once a month, really? How very Gryffindor of you." He froze for a second, but then shook it off and smiled. She remembered suddenly how much he'd wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor, and how disappointed he'd been to be a Hufflepuff. She still wasn't sure how much of that was due to her influence.

"Thank you," he said, and she nodded. After another minute or so of silence, Roxanne moved to get up. Before she even could, Conrad shot up and offered her his hand. She took and he pulled her up.

"I guess I should go," she said.

"Alright." It seemed like that was all he would say, so she smiled gently and started walking up the stairs again. "Oh, and Roxanne?" She turned around again to look at him.

"Yes?"

"I get that you don't want to talk about whatever it was that made you cry, but if you ever need somebody to… you know…" he rubbed the back of his neck.

"To talk to?"

"Right. To talk to. I just want you to know that I'm here. Whenever."

She smiled. "Thanks, Conrad."

"Anytime," he said, and then he turned down the stairs and walked briskly away. She watched him go, feeling an overwhelming wave of regret come over her.

"It's nice that you have someone who cares so much about you, dear," a sweet old voice called out to her. She looked around until she located the painting that had spoken. There were three identical old women standing around a boiling cauldron. She wasn't sure which one had called out to her.

"He's quite a nice young man," said the one on the far left.

"Hard to find them these days, isn't that right?" said the one in the middle. They all had the same voice.

"Is he your boyfriend, dear?" said the one on the right. Roxanne shook her head quickly, glancing down the steps to make sure that Conrad was really gone.

"No, no he's not my boyfriend."

"Well he should be!" exclaimed the middle one, and the one to her left smacked her in the arm.

"Maybe she doesn't want him to be!"

"Well why not?" asked the one on the right. "He's a perfectly nice, considerate young gentleman."

"Why don't you want him to be your boyfriend?" asked the middle one.

"It's not that- I mean, I already have a boyfriend."

"And where is he?" asked the leftmost one.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?!" exclaimed the one in the middle- the loud one. The other two shushed her.

"Is he a perfectly nice, considerate young gentleman like that one?" asked the one on the right in a nicer tone.

Roxanne hesitated before answering. "Absolutely." She didn't really believe it, but she was a good liar.

"Well, that's just lovely, dear," said the one on the left.

"Yes," the rightmost one agreed, "you are quite lucky to have two kind, considerate young men fighting for your heart."

"Oh no!" Roxanne exclaimed. "They aren't fighting for my heart. Conrad's just an old friend."

"Who would like to be more?" asked the left one.

"Why does everyone think that?" Roxanne groaned in frustration. "We don't even talk to each other anymore."

"It looked to me like you were talking," said the one in the middle, getting another smack on the arm.

"We're sorry we upset you, dear," apologised the one on the right. "We just make observances, that's all."

Roxanne shook her head, as if trying to shake her thoughts out of her head. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry, I have to go."

As she took off up the stairs, she heard one of the old women call after her: "Visit us again some time, dear! We get a little tired of just talking to each other all the time." Or maybe that was two of them. It was hard to tell- they sounded just the same.

She got back to the common room feeling completely drained, and barely had the energy to climb up all the stairs to her dorm. She collapsed in her bed and didn't move until James came to her room a few hours later to drag her to dinner.

"Mm nah gon," she mumbled into her pillow.

"What?" James asked, and she was torn between wanting to yell at him and wanting him to hold her and tell her everything was gonna be alright.

"I'm not going to dinner," she said, more clearly this time, choosing to do neither and instead not looking at him.

"Why not?"

She went with the shortest version. "Grayson and I had a fight."

"What about?" He sat on the bed with her and patted her on the arm.

"Little bit of this, little bit of that."

"Anything serious?"

"Maybe."

He paused and contemplated before responding. "I'm sorry. Do you want me to bring you up some food?"

"Maybe."

"Alright. And then afterwards maybe we can go… blow up Madam Hooch's shed?" This idea seemed to brighten her up considerably, and she turned to look at him, smiling. "That's what I'm talking about." But then her smile started to fade, as if an idea had just occurred to her.

"Does Chelsea have to come?" James looked disappointed, but he seemed to understand.

"Not if you don't want her to. Besides, I don't think she'd enjoy it very much. It's not really her thing." Roxanne nodded gratefully.

"Just us?"

"Just us."

"Thanks, James. For making me feel better."

"Anything for you, Rox. I'd always do anything for you. And you and Grayson are gonna work this out, alright? I know it."

"You're probably right," she sighed. Truth was, she wasn't all that worried about it anymore. She and Grayson always worked it out, and they would again.

And now that James had reassured her that he was always on her side, there was only one problem left for her to deal with. Conrad Jordan.

 **So I hope you liked that chapter! Please please review if you did (or even if you didn't). As you may or may not be able to tell, I have some plans for Roxanne and a certain Conrad Jordan in the future! We'll just have to see where the story takes us. The next chapter is about Alice Longbottom, a character who I've talked about even less than Roxanne (before this chapter, that is). Read on to find out more!**

 **-Maddie**


	9. HCOM Chapter 8- Alice

**AN: So this chapter is about Alice Longbottom, daughter of our dearly beloved Neville. She was briefly introduced in my chapter about Dominique as Dominique's one and only friend. This chapter will touch a little bit on their friendship, as well as Dominique's new budding relationship with a certain Eli Davies. Read on to find out more! Also, I'd like to apologize in advance, as this is another fluffy romance chapter (which I hope you enjoy reading as much as i enjoy writing), that isn't really much more than setup for plot lines later on. But don't fret! There is action and adventure yet to come!**

 **Disclaimer:** **JKR owns Hogwarts and the Wizarding World and (most of) these characters, not me.**

 **Please please review if you like it!**

Alice Longbottom's Long-Held Secret

or

I Truth or Dare You

Alice Longbottom's best friend was lying to her. Lying left, right, and center.

Alice was the world's living expert on embarrassing, ridiculous crushes that couldn't be explained. She knew all the signs. Getting flustered, insisting again and again how much you dislike that person, avoiding the subject when it was brought up. She'd done it over and over again, she knew how it went.

And now Dominique was showing all the signs. On Tuesday morning in Defense class, she noticed an exchange that only confirmed her suspicions.

She saw something fly across the room and hit Dominique and land in her hair. She reached into her hair and pulled out the tiny paper ball, smiling involuntarily. And then she glanced over, at where she knew he was sitting. Because she knew he threw it.

And there he was, smiling at her. Smiling a stupidly wide, goofy grin. And something about her expression must have been hilarious to him, because he chuckled when she met his gaze. She pursed her lips and squinted her eyes and shook her head, but in a flirty kind of way, and then she turned back to her notes.

She was just going about her business with her notes when another small ball of parchment flew across the room and hit her. It bounced off her arm and landed on the floor, and Alice could see her wondering if she should ignore it, act like she couldn't feel it. But she didn't. She looked back over in his direction, and he was still smiling at her, and she smiled back, of course. Then he flicked his eyebrows up at her and she mouthed "Can you stop?" followed with a small smile.

This got another chuckle. Then she turned back to her notes. And she pretended that she didn't know he was still looking at her. Smiling at her. And then he turned back to his notes, and that was it.

It was really nothing. Just a small little thing. The kind of thing that shouldn't mean a thing, except for that it did.

When class let out, Alice nudged Dominique on the arm and smiled slyly. "What was that about?" she asked, and even though Dominique knew exactly what she was referring to, she pretended to be confused.

"What?"

"That thing with Davies!"

"What thing?"

"With the flirting and the tiny balls of parchment and the flirting!" Dominique pretended to continue to be confused, but she blushed anyway, giving herself away.

"What flirting? There wasn't any flirting."

Alice raised her eyebrows. "I beg to differ."

"Al, can you please just let this go? There's nothing going on!" she exclaimed, obviously exacerbated over the fact that Alice was continually pestering her to tell her what was going on. Which she really shouldn't have to, seeing as they were best friends.

"Can you please stop insisting that there's nothing going on when there's so obviously something going on! I'm your best friend, Dom- I know you. And I know you fancy him."

"'Monique fancies someone?" came a voice from behind them. A voice that they both knew all too well. The voice Alice heard in her dreams. _Oh boy._

They both answered at the same time: "No, I don't!" and "Mind your own business, James."

"Who is it?" he persisted, wedging his way in between them. Alice glared in aggravation.

"No one!" Dominique exclaimed, and Alice shook her head. She understood why Dominique didn't want to admit it out loud to anyone, but she was getting a bit annoyed with the constant denial. She could at least pretend like she disliked Eli Davies a little more if she was going to keep insisting that she did.

"Ooh- a secret! Exciting." They both scowled at him. "So, Longbottom, who is it?" He turned to Alice.

"Go away, James," she said coldly. He put his hand over his heart and made a face like he was wounded. She couldn't stand his stupid face. Like, what was she supposed to do when he he looked at her like that? With those _eyes?_ It just wasn't fair.

"If you insist, your majesty," he bowed and stopped in place while they continued to walk forward. They left him behind, and he called after them, "Tonight, then?"

Alice waved behind her like she couldn't care less. Once they'd gotten a little farther down the corridor, Dominique asked: "Why do you tutor him, again? You hate him."

"To get my dad off my back." The year before, their fifth year, James had needed help studying for his Herbology OWL and had gone to Professor Longbottom for advice. Professor Longbottom then came up with the _brilliant_ idea to have his daughter Alice (who was his little protege and somewhat of a genius in Herbology) tutor him.

Alice had protested, but only mildly, and had then agreed "to make her dad happy." And so she became James' Herbology tutor. And then soon after that, his Potions tutor, because she was also pretty good at Potions. And then his Defense against the Dark Arts tutor, because she wasn't bad at that, either. And then she kind of became his "everything," tutor, because she was good at school, and he could really use some help. They met every Tuesday and Thursday night in the library.

Actually, Alice probably didn't have to tutor James anymore. Sixth year was hard, but James wasn't taking very many NEWT classes, and, besides, they were only in the second week of school. Nothing too difficult had been assigned yet. James could probably handle it on his own.

But the truth was that Alice _enjoyed_ tutoring James. It was the best part of her week.

Because even though she hated him and everything about him, she was also hopelessly, desperately in love with him.

"Ah, yes," recalled Dominique. "Good ol' Daddy Longbottom."

"Please don't call him that."

"Fine." Their next period was free, so they headed out to the grounds. The weather would only be nice for another few weeks or so, and they liked to take advantage of the grounds space while they still could.

Most students went to the library or to their common rooms during free periods. Dominique and Alice did, too, during the winter (though, they mostly avoided the Gryffindor Common Room, as it was almost always too crowded and noisy). During the fall and spring, however, they would go on the grounds when they could. It was a good place to study, if you were Alice, or to sit around and goof off, if you were Dominique.

They lounged under a tree overlooking the lake. Alice read a book for a book report in Transfiguration and Dominique made different colored sparks emerge from the end of her wand. She looked like she was concentrating hard on something, and it wasn't the definitely wasn't the first-year-level spark magic.

Alice got so into her book that she didn't even notice when Eli Davies came out onto the grounds. It only registered in her brain when Dominique suddenly sat up and looked alert, like a cat. She glanced around, looking for what her friend had seen, when she saw Davies across the green. Crossing towards them.

They both watched him as he approached, hands in his pockets, head tilted down, a slight smile playing on his lips. Alice had never known another person who smiled as much as Eli Davies did.

Once he got close enough, he nodded to Alice. "Hullo."

Alice nodded in return, "Davies," but he already wasn't paying her any attention. He was staring right past her, right at Dominique.

"May I speak with you for a moment, Dominique?" he asked very formally, but he was still slightly smiling so the formality seemed like a joke. Dominique looked confused- like, genuinely confused this time, not that "fake confusion" thing she was doing all the time- but she nodded anyway and allowed him to help her up and lead her away from Alice.

Once they were officially out of earshot ( _Jerks. They could at least let her listen in!_ ), Davies brightened considerably as he launched into what appeared to be an elaborate story. Dominique continued to look confused, and cut him off to snap at him about something, probably. Typical of her.

He seemed to ask her something, and stared at her hopefully, making a pitiful, puppy-dog looking face. She frowned, but you could see the smile underneath, coming through her eyes. Then she sighed and shrugged in what appeared to be reluctant agreement. Davies cheered and wrapped her up in a quick hug, while she stood perfectly still with her hands to her side. She obviously wasn't used to being hugged, and turned beet red in the face. Then Davies said something more and put a gentle hand on her shoulder before running off, appearing to call something out behind him as he went.

Dominique stood there for another moment, staring after him, before she shook her head and walked back over to Alice. Alice sat there in bewilderment, waiting for an explanation that never came. Dominique just sat back down and continued making sparks with her wand, as if nothing had happened.

"DOMINIQUE!" Alice screamed, startling her friend. "What was that?!"

"Nothing," Dominique said, and Alice seriously had to refrain herself from trying to strangle her.

"Cut the 'nothing,' crap, Dom! That was definitely something!" She was yelling, which was rare for Alice, but instead of having the shocking/intimidating effect she wished it would have, Dominique instead just crossed her arms and scowled. So Alice went for the softer approach. "I'm your best friend. If you can't tell me about it, who can you tell?"

Domonique sighed loudly. "It's really not a big deal," she began, "He just asked me to meet him tonight."

"Meet him? What for?"

"That's the part I'm still wondering about. He wouldn't say. He just said he wanted to show me something."

"Show you something? Show you what? And why you? Since when do you even talk to him?" Alice had obviously noticed something different between Dominique and Davies ever since school started, but was still unclear as to when or why it began, as Dominique refused to give her a straight answer.

"We've been talking since school started," she confessed, and Alice just stared at her, awaiting further explanation. Again, she sighed loudly before continuing. "On the first day of school, I was up really early, as I usually am…" Alice nodded in agreement, "and I was down in the common room, reading a book when Eli came in.

"He started talking to me and I asked him to go away, but he wouldn't. And then we had a little conversation, and when he finally went to leave me alone he asked me if I would be there again the next day. And so the next day, there I was again, and then he came in again, and we talked again. And then the next morning, it happened all over. And the next morning…" she trailed off. Alice's mouth was hanging open.

"You're telling me you've been meeting him _every morning?!"_ she exclaimed, and Dominique looked embarrassed. "For over a week?!"

"We have an unspoken arrangement," she shrugged. Alice sat and processed this new information.

"So, you guys are like… friends?"

Again, Dominique shrugged in a noncommittal way. "I suppose so." Alice contemplated this some more.

"Well, I think it's great!" she said eventually, and Dominique looked like she didn't quite believe her. " _And,_ I think he fancies you."

"Shut up. He does not."

"He bloody well does!" she exclaimed, and Dominique laughed in surprise, because sweet little Alice didn't usually say things like that.

"He bloody well doesn't!" she retorted, and they argued like that, back and forth, until it was time to go back to class.

That night, Alice and Dominique split up when Dominique went to go meet with Davies and Alice went to go tutor James. It was so strange- they didn't used to associate with these people, and now they were _both_ meeting up with them? Her best friend meeting his best friend, and vice versa. I guess it would be kind of hard to go to school with people for so long and not cross paths now and again. Especially if they were in your year, and your house, and essentially all your same classes.

Alice was glad that her tutoring sessions with James were a normal thing now. In the beginning, she would get so stressed out about it. She used to worry about what she would wear, and fret about her appearance for hours. Then eventually she realized that after all was said and done, she always just made herself look casual, so she wouldn't look like she was trying too hard. Basically she spent hours making it look like she had spent no time at all. And then she realized how stupid that was, and now she just dressed like what she would do if he was anyone else. Today, it was a light pink sweater with three quarter sleeves, and some dark pink jeans.

She was also glad that she had gotten to know James over all the time she'd spent with him. She'd been hopelessly infatuated with him since she was a little girl, but he had always been nothing more than an unattainable goal. She saw him as the ideal love interest, not as a real person. Getting to know him made her see that he was a real person, with real flaws.

But knowing him, and realizing that he wasn't nearly as perfect as she'd always thought he was, only made her affections for him grow. Now that she knew him as a real person, her feelings felt more real. As far as she was concerned, it wasn't possible to know this boy and not love him.

She got to the library at their predetermined time, 7:30, but he was nowhere to be found. He was always at least a little bit late, so she wasn't worried. She grabbed their usual table in the back by the window. She had only agreed to the window table after realizing that James needed some form of stimulation in order for his brain to work properly. Otherwise, he got too bored and completely shut down, and good luck teaching him anything then.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, she started to get a little worried. He usually wasn't this late. She decided to give him 15 minutes more before she left. Besides, she could use this time to get some of her own work done, because after he arrived, trying to concentrate would be useless. She still found it really hard to focus when she was with him, and so she took advantage of this alone time to continue reading her book.

She was on the second to last chapter when he arrived, 35 minutes late and 5 minutes after she said she would stop waiting for him. He shlumped down in his chair, looking frazzled and upset about something.

"You're still here," he commented, but he sounded far less enthusiastic than usual.

"What happened?" she cut straight to the chase, knowing based on his demeanor that something besides his own absent mindedness had led to him being late.

He threw his bag on the table and started rifling through it angrily, occasionally taking out a book or a quill or something and throwing it down on the table between them. "Chelsea," he said, his voice hard. Alice knew from experience that James was a ranter, and so if she just left him alone for enough time, he would start telling her all about it. Even details she didn't need to know.

After he'd thrown all of his supplies down on the table and shoved his bag under his chair, he looked around for something else to move or touch or slam to let out his frustration. Eventually, he settled on breaking a quill in half. Then, he looked at what he'd done ashamedly, and got up to go throw the pieces away. When he returned, he put his head in his hands and groaned. Alice sat there quietly, waiting.

Once again, she was right. Alice was usually right. He looked up at her and then up at the ceiling and launched into the story.

"She said she wants 'a break,'" he began, and Alice tried to look like she didn't care or wasn't exceedingly intrigued by this topic of conversation. "Just out of nowhere, for no reason! She said she thinks we need some time off, to really 'think about what we're doing.' I just don't get it! Like, one second everything's going fine and we're having a good time together and everything, and then the next second she's saying that maybe we should, 'see other people." Who else does she want to see?"

"She's probably testing you," Alice observed, and James looked at her confusedly. Of course he was confused- boys were so oblivious.

"Testing you," she repeated. "She says you're on a break, basically giving you the go-ahead to see other people, right?" He nodded. "But she doesn't actually want you to see other people. She wants to know that you're loyal- that she's the only want you want. She wants to make sure you won't just go right for someone else if you two aren't together."

James made an expression like she'd just said the strangest thing he'd ever heard. "Are you serious?"

"Oldest trick in the book," she replied smugly. She loved being the smart one- the one with all the answers. "She probably just wants you to be 'tortured' for a week or two, and then come crawling back to her."

"So she didn't actually break up with me?"

"Of course not."

"Why in Dumbledore's name did she think that was a good idea?!"

"Because she's barking mad." Alice didn't think she would ever say such a thing under normal circumstances (she was saying a lot of things that were out-of-character recently, she noticed). But such as it were, this seemed like the perfect time to voice exactly how crazy she thought James' girlfriend was. He didn't seem to mind, however. He just nodded like he was thinking the exact same thing.

They didn't get any studying done that night. They were usually only there for an hour or so if they didn't have a huge project to work on or test to study for, and James was already over half an hour late. She let him rant himself out, which took a solid 15 minutes. She loved that he was having relationship problems, but hated how much she loved it. She felt like a bad person- but at least she wasn't going around telling him to forget about her or anything.

Once he was done complaining and pouring out his feelings, she asked him if there was anything he wanted to study or review. He looked at her like she was crazy.

"Let's just skip it for tonight. I couldn't focus anyway," he admitted. She nodded in agreement. Focus was James' main problem. Unless it was on the Quidditch pitch, he had none.

"Alright," Alice conceded, packing things up in her bag. While she did this, James unfolded a large piece of paper and scanned it quickly for something. When he located whatever it was, his entire face lit up like she hadn't seen all night. "What?" she asked, but he didn't reply.

As she got up to leave he quickly shoved his things back into his bag and hopped up to walk with her. They left the library together, walking side by side in a silence that was not at all uncomfortable.

As they made their way up the staircase towards the seventh floor (and the entrance to the Gryffindor tower), suddenly James grabbed her arm and pulled her down a random hallway. "What are you doing?" she asked, her heart suddenly pounding as a list of possible scenarios ran through her mind.

"You'll see," he replied, continuing down the hallway.

"James!" she demanded, stopping her feet and refusing to move any farther. He stopped as well, his smile verging on mischevious. She knew that smile well.

"We're going to meet up with our friends." This only confused her more.

" _Our_ friends?" They didn't have any mutual friends.

"Ok, fine. My friends," he admitted, "But your friend will be there."

"Dominique?"

"Who else?" he said like it was obvious, which it was. She only had the one friend. "Davies is bringing her." Alice suddenly remembered that Dominique had been around with Davies night.

"Bringing her where?"

"To hang out!" he exclaimed, starting to walk again. He still had hold of her arm, and began dragging her along again.

"Where?!"

"You ask too many questions."

"But what about curfew?!" Curfew was at 9 and it was already nearing 8:30. James just laughed and shook his head.

"You're such a goody-two shoes, Al," he teased.

"Don't call me Al!" she reminded him. She hated that. He only laughed some more, happy to have bothered her.

They finally stopped in front of an abandoned classroom. The hallway was dark, and the classroom seemed dark inside. James knocked some sort of rhythm on the wood, like a secret code. His cousin Roxanne came to the door, flinging it open with a look of exasperation.

"You know you don't have to do the secret knock anymore," she told him, ushering them inside. She seemed surprised to see Alice there, but got over it fairly quickly. Alice scanned the room to see what kind of situation she'd been dragged into.

Sitting on the floor in a circle were all of James' closest friends. Roxanne Weasley, Michael Wood, Grayson MacMillan, Eli Davies. And sitting next to Davies was her best friend Dominique, looking a little bit like she was being held there against her will. Very similar to how Alice felt.

There were also a few other Gryffindor sixth years around, including Alice's other roommates: Grace Chamberlain, Cynthia Doolittle, and Nora Cleary, and their male counterparts Nate Thomas, Albert Griffin, and Lewis Joyner. People she was friendly with, but wouldn't exactly call her friends. That made her feel a little better.

But then she noticed someone sitting next to an extremely uncomfortable-looking Grayson MacMillan. None other than James' unofficial ex-girlfriend Chelsea Creevy herself. When she saw James come in, she fluffed her hair and batted her eyelashes and pushed her chest out. God, Alice hated her. Why was she here?

James definitely noticed her there- how could you not- but he played it cool. He took his seat in the circle next to Roxanne, patting the floor next to him for Alice to sit down. She did, even though she really wanted to sit next to Dominique, who was a few people down from her. Chelsea shot daggers at her with her eyes at Alice.

Once they were settled in, James asked what they were doing in a nonchalant "what sort of debauchery shall we get up to tonight" kind of way. An enthusiastic response went around that they were playing truth or dare.

Alice thought they were joking, at first. And when she realized they weren't, she was stunned. In her mind, these were the cool kids. Surely they were always getting up to all kinds of cool and interesting things! Not a silly game she used to play as a second year.

She thought for sure James would agree with her. That he would say something along the lines of, "C'mon, mates, isn't that a little second year?" Instead, he just agreed enthusiastically and launched right into the game with the rest of them. He was more of a 'let's do it,' kind of chap anyway. No matter what "it" was.

At first the game was boring. Since these weren't really her friends, they never picked her. All the girls who were picked said "truth," and would have to answer stupid questions like: "Have you ever fancied anyone in this room?" or "Who was your first kiss?" or "If you had to shag one of the professors who would it be?" She really didn't need to know that Cynthia Doolittle would totally shag Alice's dad if she had to.

The boys all went for dares. Grayson and Roxanne had to switch shirts for the rest of the game, which she wasn't too happy with at first but laughed her butt off after she actually saw him in her purple crop top. Lewis Joyner had to lick someone's foot (he got to chose whose). Eli Davies had to steal some pudding from the kitchens and bring it back, which resulted in he and James running off for about 15 or so minutes.

Since the rules of the game went that the last person who got dared (or truthed) would ask the next person, they had to wait for Davies to return to get on with the game. This, at least, gave Alice and Dominique a chance to sit together. They knew each other well enough to communicate only through looks, and right now both of their faces were asking: "What are we doing here?"

When the boys eventually did return, puddings in hand, the game resumed with Davies asking Dominique truth or dare. She went for truth, trying not to let on how terrified she was of the whole situation, Alice could tell. Dom hadn't had a crush since 3rd year, as far as Alice knew, and didn't really know how to handle herself. Davies contemplated for a while, and then asked her if she'd ever gone skinny dipping, followed by a cheeky wink. She scowled at him and didn't reply.

"I'll take that as a yes then," he joked, and everyone laughed good-naturedly. Then it was Dominique's turn to ask the next person. They all kind of assumed she'd pick Alice- even Alice assumed so- so it was a surprise when she asked Michael Wood instead. Perhaps she had seen Alice's pleading eyes and known how much she didn't want to be called on.

Wood said he'd take the dare, obviously, and so Dominique had to contemplate what to give him. Davies pulled her to the side and whispered something to her, making her smile wickedly. They were all a little worried.

"I dare you to read everyone a chapter of your Twilight fanfiction," she said, causing about half the room to burst into laughter. The other half looked amused, but also confused. Michael Wood, on the other hand, looked mortified.

"Isn't that that Muggle vampire thing?"

"Yes!" Davies said enthusiastically, and Wood scowled at him.

"I am never telling you anything ever again!" he shouted at his friend, causing another wave of laughter.

Because it was too late to deny that this thing existed, Wood was forced to read a chapter of his Twilight fanfiction. He stated over and over again that he wrote it when he was 12, and he only did it to impress some Muggle bird, but it was still hilarious. Not very well written, though.

When he was done being wholly embarrassed, it was his turn to ask the next person. He chose James, who was all too excited to pick dare.

"I dare you…" he paused to think. Roxanne whispered something in his ear, and he nodded enthusiastically. He then began looking around the circle again, pretending to still be thinking about it, until his eyes landed on Alice, "...to kiss Longbottom!"

Alice turned a bright crimson while the group whooped and cheered, excited by this idea. Well, everyone except Chelsea Creevy and Dominique, who both looked disgusted.

The next thing Alice knew, she was locked in the abandoned classroom next door with James. On the other side of the door, they were all chanting: "Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" They weren't allowed out of the classroom until they kissed one another, with photographic evidence to prove that it really happened.

"We're not doing this, mates!" James shouted at them. "Let us out!" Alice stood behind him as he pounded on the door, fuming with anger for multiple reasons.

The first reason was that she really really wanted to kiss James Potter. The second reason was that he obviously didn't want to kiss her. The third reason was that James' friends were very persistent, and probably would definitely not be letting them out until they kissed. And she did not want to kiss James Potter against his will. She wanted him to want to kiss her. And so she was angry.

"Just kiss her, James!" a voice they both recognized as Eli Davies shouted back at him.

"C'mon, Davies, open up!" Alice shouted. She decided that her best tactic would be to act like she really didn't want to kiss him either. That way she'd be safe.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" the chanting continued. Why had she even agreed to this game? And why hadn't James picked truth? And why did Wood have to say _her_ name? Why her?!

James sat down on the floor with his back to the door. He was looking at her, and she was praying to Dumbledore that the lighting was too dim for him to see how badly she was blushing.

"This isn't hard, mates!" Roxanne shouted at them. They could both hear the smugness in her voice. This dare was her idea, after all.

James was probably worried about what Chelsea was thinking. Even though they were technically "on a break," and she had basically given him her blessing to kiss whoever he wanted, he knew that if he kissed Alice now, he would fail her little test.

Not that Chelsea (or anybody, for that matter) actually saw Alice Longbottom as any sort of threat. On the outside, she was the sweetest, most innocent and average girl in the whole world. She had a cute round little face- with freckles and warm blue eyes- and curly mouse-brown hair. Kind of short, and very slightly chubby. Nothing spectacular, nothing that any boy's girlfriend (or un-official ex-girlfriend) should have to worry themselves over.

Except that, to Chelsea Creevy, Alice was probably one of her biggest threats. Because Alice actually knew James, and understood him. James and Alice, despite how much Alice denied it, were friends.

Besides, Alice was just an all-around better friend to James then Chelsea had ever been. Alice knew that James' favorite color was blue, and that his middle name was Sirius, and that when he was little he had a stuffed bear named Apple, because apples were his favorite fruit. Chelsea knew none of that stuff.

And Chelsea wasn't the one trapped in a room with him. And Chelsea wasn't the one he was dared to kiss. Alice was.

James was yanking on the doorknob, trying to force the door open, when some part of Alice's brain short-circuited- or maybe just broke altogether- and she blurted out: "Let's just do it James!"

She tried to make it sound as casual and as much like she didn't want to do it as possible.

"Al…" he said apprehensively, not sure if she was really thinking this through.

"Do not call me Al," she reminded him for the millionth time. Then she repeated what she'd said, "C'mon, let's just do it. What's the big deal? It doesn't mean anything, and then they'll let us out!"

"We're gonna do this?" he asked, checking with her to make sure it was really okay. He absolutely wasn't gonna do it if she didn't want to. That's the kind of guy he was.

"We're gonna do this," she replied, trying to keep her tone as calm as possible. What was she saying?!

He stood up and walked over to her. They maintained eye contact with each other, probably making the whole situation even more uncomfortable.

"Yeah, we can do this! It doesn't mean anything!" James reassured her, but actually it was more like he was reassuring himself.

"Nothing at all," she agreed, but her voice came out sounding a little softer and more breathy than she'd intended. He suddenly looked frightened, and James rarely looked frightened. "Let's just do it, let's just do it, let's just do it," she said rapidly, in a more normal tone.

"Alright, let's do it. So I'll just…" he stepped even closer to her, and now they were the closest they'd ever stood, their faces within inches of each other. "And then put my hands…?" He placed his hands awkwardly on both sides of her face.

"Maybe stop narrating," she suggested, and he nodded in agreement.

"Fine."

"Do it."

"I'm doing it!"

"Fine. Then do it."

"That's what I'm doing!"

"Just kiss me, James!" she insisted, and again he nodded.

"Right. Great. That's what I'm gonna do!" He started to lean in, and just as he closed his eyes she got extremely nervous and yanked away. His eyes shot open and he stared at her in confusion.

"Don't make that face!" she demanded, and he looked shocked.

"What face? This is just my face!"

"Then make a different face!"

"Fine, I'll make a different face!"

"Alright, great."

"Good!" They stepped closer to each other again, but at this point they'd built it up so much that there was no way it could not be extremely weird.

"Let's just get it over with!" Alice insisted, and James took her by the waist this time. She didn't want to think about how bloody nice that felt. He started to lean in again, but again she panicked and yanked back. Again.

"No, I can't do this-" he said, shaking his head "Okay, you know what-" He marched back over to the door and began banging on it. "Let us out of here, guys! Open the door!" he yelled, as she stalked away towards the back wall of windows. The chanting had stopped, and presumably they had all moved back to the room next door, so no one was listening. She sat down on the windowsill, and after a few minutes of futile banging on the door, James came over and joined her.

"I'm sorry," she began, and he shook his head at her. "I don't know what happened. I panicked, I guess."

"If I hadn't thought you were gonna panic, I probably would have panicked," James admitted, and now it was her turn to shake her head.

"Oh, please. You're James Potter. You don't panic." But Alice knew this wasn't true. Her ideal, perfect James that she'd been in love with all those years- he was the cool guy. He was the one who never panicked. The real James, the one she'd become friends with over these past few months, panicked just as much as the next guy.

"Of course I do! I thought you knew me better than that," he said, nudging her with his knee. She smiled a little bit before she thought of what she needed to ask him next, and her smile vanished because her question made her nervous.

"But why would you panic about kissing me? It's just me," she said looking down at her feet instead of at him.

"I suppose I could ask you the same question," he nudged her again, and she blushed brightly.

"Oh, c'mon, James! You're a 10, and I'm a solid 5 ½." She didn't know why she said it, and didn't really think about it until the words were already out. She glanced up, and saw that James was staring at her incredulously.

"You, Alice Longbottom, are not a 5 ½," he insisted, and she smiled shyly. Then, the part of what she'd said that she was actually worried about seemed to occur to him. "Wait, you think I'm a 10?"

She hesitated for a second before accepting that it was a little too late to take this one back. "Of course," she said quietly, and James beamed.

"Out of 10?" he joked, and she laughed a little bit.

"Of course," she reiterated, with more confidence this time.

"So you'd actually want to kiss me?" he asked, catching her completely off guard. Figures he'd make the connection.

"I never said that," she said, hoping he'd just let it drop.

"No, but you thought it!" he said, poking her in the side and making her giggle.

"Did not!" she insisted, and he poked her again, moving in to tickle her.

"Did so!" he mocked as she squirmed away from him. He caught her wrist and suddenly they both stopped moving and sat perfectly still- looking at each other. They both had soft smiles on and suddenly a crazy thought popped into Alice's mind: _He's about to kiss me._ And, just when it looked like he might make a move... there was a bang at the door.

"Have you done it yet?" Roxanne yelled to them, and James seemed to suddenly remember himself, releasing her wrist and moving away. Suddenly there were a ton of voices right outside the door, and then the chanting started up again.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!"

Alice groaned and flipped back to casual/nonchalant mode she'd had before. "They're never gonna leave us alone," she pointed out, and he gave her a look that read "not helpful, Alice."

"Well, they're going to have to, because we are not kissing!" James said, pacing towards the door and back.

"Oh, c'mon, James, it's not that big a deal." Even though she was the one who panicked and didn't kiss him before, she was still a little insulted that he was so insistent on _not_ kissing her now.

"We're not!" he yelled at her, and she crossed her arms, frustrated again.

"I don't see what-"

"Not like this, Alice!" he cut her off. "Not like…"

Then, they both seemed to realize what he'd just said.

"What?" Alice asked, and James just stared at her, rendered speechless by his own words. "What does that mean?" Though she had a pretty good idea; she just wasn't ready to let herself believe it.

"Nothing. I just- It's not supposed to- I mean we're not- I mean it can't- we..." he was getting flustered, and she smiled a little bit at him (because it was rare to see a flustered James) which only seemed to make him more so.

He suddenly walked over to one of the windows and flung it open, as if desperate for air. Then he got up on the ledge like he was about to jump out. Alice gasped.

"James, what in Dumbledore's name are you doing?! Get down from there!" He didn't look at her, and acted like he couldn't hear.

"Accio broom!" he cried, using a tactic that his dad had had used to escape a Hungarian Horntail during his time as a champion in the Triwizard Tournament. In less than a minute, a flying broomstick appeared- one of the ones they trained the first years with, by the look of it. They were being stored in the remains of the shed he'd obviously blown up over the weekend. That's probably how it could get to him so easily.

"Are you serious, James?" she asked as he mounted the broom. He looked regretful, but it wasn't enough to stop him.

He took the broom and with one more regretful backwards glance, flew out the window with it, leaving her alone in the locked classroom with people still chanting on the other side of the door. "What just happened?" Alice asked aloud, stunned and upset and even more confused than ever about her feelings towards James Potter.

 **I hope you liked this chapter! Please please review if you did. In the name of full disclosure, that last scene, with Alice and James in the classroom, was based off of a scene in season 2 episode 15 of "New Girl," where Nick and Jess are forced to kiss each other and he accidentally maybe confesses feelings for her. When I saw that scene I just knew I had to write it, and I wanted to give it to these two, who I think are just adorable. I mean, Alice is in love with one of the coolest guys in school (which, I'll be honest, I've totally been there before), even though she really doesn't want to be, and I just think it's always nice when unrequited love starts going both ways, however unrealistic that idea may be. Read on for more of these crazy kids, and feel free to write me a review letting me know what you make of these two and their relationship! -Maddie**


	10. HCOM Chapter 9- James

James Potter's Big Dilemma

or

Gryffindor House's Quidditch Tryouts

James Sirius Potter rolled out of bed on Saturday morning feeling an overwhelming sense of dread at the idea of the Quidditch tryouts. He was sure it would be just as much of a spectacle as it had been the year before, and on top of the week he'd had... he just really wasn't feeling it.

He met with his team in the Great Hall after lunch that afternoon to discuss strategies with them. He had his 2 beaters- Grayson MacMillan and Ben Saunders- as well as their backup, Fred Weasley (James' cousin). He also had the 3 chasers- himself, his cousin Molly, and Michael Wood. And then there was his keeper- Eli Davies, with backup Winnie Ashburn- and his seeker- Kathryn Baker (or K.B., as she prefered to be called). Today they were looking for a backup chaser (or potentially 2, if they found great players) and a backup seeker.

He had them huddle around him, and switched into "Captain Potter," mode. Captain Potter was stern, serious, focused, and intense... and only loosely based on the normal James. To his team, especially those with whom he was close friends, Captain Potter and James were two completely separate entities.

"Okay, team, so here's the game plan," he began, and they all listened intently. "We're looking for a backup chaser and a backup seeker today. There's going to be about 100 to 150 people out there today, and so I'm going to need help from all of you to see who actually has talent and who's just there for a laugh.

"K.B., since you obviously know the most about seeking, you're going to stick with me and keep an eye out for anyone who you think has what it takes. Molly, Wood, same goes for you two with the chasers. Everyone else needs to just help me keep things in order. Feel free to scout the talent, as well, but remember that your main job is to keep things from falling apart. Understood?"

"Yes, sir, Captain Potter, sir!" they all chanted at once, startling a few of the passers-by in the Great Hall. The team members were all very used to saying: "yes, sir, Captain Potter, sir!" It was one of the first things James taught them all when he became Captain, and they all knew it well.

They all made their way down to the Quidditch pitch together, most of the team laughing and talking amongst themselves. James walked slightly ahead of everyone else, staying dead silent, which was very atypical for him. His best friend ElI Davies caught up to him, and fell into step beside him, until they were walking side by side.

"Hey, mate, you alright?" Eli asked, though he knew perfectly well that James hadn't been himself recently, ever since that Tuesday night when they played truth or dare. He thought it was probably a result of James' breakup with Chelsea, which had happened that same night, but that was just because Eli didn't suspect at all about the _true_ reason James had been stressing all week.

Well, there were multiple reasons… but this was the main one.

See, James had more important things to worry about than Alice Longbottom. Things like getting through the Quidditch tryouts, and being there for his team.

Unfortunately, she seemed to be the only thing he could think about. He knew he couldn't just avoid her, any more than he could avoid thinking about her.

He just needed to play Quidditch and focus on that. He had to be there for his team; he couldn't afford to be so distracted right now. But it just kept nagging on his mind:

"Why? Why did I do that? What was I thinking? How could I have been so stupid?!" He asked himself over and over, but he had yet to come up with any answer. James had done plenty of really stupid things in his time, but he was pretty sure this one took the cake.

He didn't know how he was going to face her. But he knew that he had to.

He'd seen her in class all week, and she'd been avoiding him. Occasionally, he'd catch her glancing in his direction, but as soon as they made eye contact she would turn pointedly away and blush a furious red color. This had happened approximately once every class (of which they had multiple together each day) and an average of 3 times per meal. It was the only contact they'd had.

On Thursday, they were supposed to study in the library together at their regular time. James had foolishly believed that she might show up- because Alice always showed up- but not this time. And he had sat in the library anyway, at their usual table, from 7:30 until just before curfew... just in case.

The truth was that James had felt _stirrings_ recently. Stirrings of emotions whenever Alice Longbottom was around. He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment it had started- all he knew was that one second they were studying in the library (as always), and the next second all he could focus on was the pretty warm blue color of her eyes, or the way she tucked her hair behind her cute little ears.

She was just so freaking _adorable._ Like, what was he supposed to do when she giggled like that? He could hardly stand it.

And now she hated him. I mean, she'd always kind of hated him, but it had never felt real. It was always a fake, teasing kind of hating. She had never actively avoided speaking to him before. And he couldn't stand himself for making her feel like she had to.

That was just like him, to mess everything up before anything could even happen. Not that anything would ever happen between him and Alice- he wasn't that stupid. She would never go for him; she knew better than that. She deserved someone smart and nice and rule-abiding, like she was. Not some class-skipping, prank pulling, idiot delinquent like him.

Besides, he had Chelsea. Yes, that's right, his _girlfriend_ Chelsea; if he could even still call her that.

Chelsea- who was completely gorgeous and who he'd fancied for quite some time before they started going out. Chelsea- who he enjoyed being around (for the most part), even though his friends couldn't stand her. Chelsea- who, when he thought about it, he'd never actually had a deep conversation with. Chelsea- who didn't seem to care about anyone other than herself much at all. Chelsea- who'd told him she needed some "time off."

He'd tried to pretend otherwise, but it really upset him when she did that. See, James had never been the "dumper." Despite seeming like that's the kind of guy he would be, he'd never actually ended a relationship. He was always the one who got broken up with.

None of his previous relationships had really lasted that long, and he'd never been too broken up about it when the girl decided to end it. They would be at that point where neither of them were really into it any more, and they both knew the end was near, but James was always too afraid to end it. He was always the optimistic one; the one who thought it was probably just a phase, and would work itself out.

So to James, that's what this felt like. Like things between them hadn't been the same recently, and while he thought things were fine (or were gonna be fine sometime soon), maybe for her it was over. When she told him that she thought they should "see other people," it had felt like it was the end for real, and that was it.

Now, Alice had told him that it was probably just a test, and Roxanne had confirmed Alice's theory later that night, when she came to find him and ask him where the bloody hell he went off to. But that just made him pissed off. She broke things off with him to _test him?_ What was she thinking?

And then there was how bloody annoying she'd been acting during truth or dare. First, there was the fact that she'd shown up at all. Those were mostly James' friends- not hers- and she knew that. And then she'd dolled herself all up and went out of her way to do her makeup and hair and wear her skimpiest little outfit. What was she trying to prove? And then, to top it all off, she was flirting with his friend (Michael Wood) all night long, but yet felt like it was perfectly okay to act like a jealous girlfriend when he was dared to kiss Alice!

All of James' other breakups had been clean. A simple, "yeah, this isn't working anymore," and a "see you later," and that was it. He'd pass them in the hallways and wave, or see them in class and smile if they made accidental eye contact, but they never stuck around! He never had to hang out with them again! With Chelsea, he had a feeling it would be messy. She wasn't the type to move on easily, or let herself be forgotten about.

The thing was, even though this break up hadn't been "for real," if he was being honest, he didn't really see things going much farther with Chelsea. He really couldn't see them together beyond 6th year, let alone beyond Hogwarts. He couldn't even picture her as his date for Victoire and Teddy's wedding in the spring.

Victoire and Teddy- now that was a real relationship. That was real love. That was something that he would never have with Chelsea, and it was something that he was beginning to realise he wanted.

So maybe he should break up with her. Like, for real. But, James had never done that before! And he still liked Chelsea, or at least he thought he did. So why should they break up if he was still into her?

But why should they stay together? He didn't have a good answer to that, either.

He didn't know what to do. When he woke up that Wednesday morning after "The Alice Incident _,"_ having spent hours the night before contemplating all of this, he decided to write two letters- one to his dad, and one to Teddy- asking them what they thought.

In his letter to his dad he left Alice out of it, because he knew that Harry was close with Professor Longbottom and loved Alice, and probably wouldn't be able to be objective about it. But he included her in his letter to Teddy, because he trusted him to be hush-hush about the whole thing, and he valued his advice.

Teddy was like a big brother to him, since he was around _all the time_ when they were growing up. He always went to him with his problems. James thought that Teddy was a way better older brother to him than he was to Albus, but he suspected that was mostly because he and Al were so different. Al was quiet and smart and introspective, and James was pretty much the opposite.

That Friday he had received a letter back from his dad, telling him to follow his heart and not be afraid to end things with Chelsea if that felt right. Basically, it was all very broad and vague statements, and not helpful at all really.

He hadn't heard back from Teddy yet, but he was really anxious about what he may have to say.

So anyhow, on the way down to tryouts, Eli asked James if he was doing okay. Then, when James didn't answer right away, he followed up with another question. "Is it about the tryouts? Because, honestly, mate, I think it'll be fine. Can't be half as bad as last year, can it?"

The year before, in James' first year as captain, the Gryffindor tryouts had been scheduled in the morning slot, from 7 until 2, with Ravenclaw after them from 3 until 10. However, the Gryffindor tryouts were always a huge spectacle, in which sometimes more than half the house would come out, even if there were only one or two backup spots open. The tryouts had gone overtime and a big discrepancy had broke out when Ravenclaw had arrived on the pitch to begin their tryouts. This year James had to fight Madame Hooch so that they could be in the night slot, with tryouts allowed to go on for as long as they needed to after hours.

James was always fighting with Madame Hooch. They really didn't like each other, and this time around it had been especially bad because Madame Hooch was convinced that James was the one responsible for blowing up her broom shed. Even though she had absolutely no proof! She was right, obviously, it had been James, but he was offended that she suspected him without any evidence. And she was upset that no one would listen to her that it was "that Potter boy!" who did it.

Thankfully for the Quidditch tryouts, the captain of the Hufflepuff team- Maria Fencik, who was also to have tryouts on Saturday- insisted on having the morning slot because she didn't want to have any kind of altercation with the Gryffindor team. So, Madam Hooch was forced, upon Maria's request, to give James his way.

"It couldn't possibly be any worse than last year," James agreed, making Eli smile broadly because at least he'd responded.

"In fact-" Eli continued, "I think everything will run extremely smoothly and we'll be out of here before 10!"

"Bold prediction, Davies," K.B. chimed in, walking up beside them. "Tell me, are you new here?"

K.B. was a seventh year, and this was her last season with the team, which is why they needed to find her a good backup. She was small, dark haired girl with a fierce attitude, a sarcastic sense of humor, and a sharp wit. She was also a brilliant seeker, and one of James' all time favorite people. When he was new on the team, she had welcomed him with open arms, and when it came time for them to pick a new captain, she relinquished the position to him without hesitation, knowing that he was what was best for the team. And even though she was older, and she'd been playing longer, and was, in a technical sense, a better Quidditch player than James, she still respected his authority, and even helped him enforce it at first- when she still needed to.

"C'mon, K.B., you gotta be positive!" Eli said, flashing his award-winning smile, "It's all going to go smoothly and everything'll be fine!"

About this, Davies was half right. Things at the tryouts did not go very smoothly at all, but it did turn out fine, in the end.

James knew he should have closed off the tryouts to first and second years, who quite honestly had no chance of making the team and were nothing more than obnoxious as far as trying to organize real drills went. But... his father has been only a first year when he made the Gryffindor team, and he turned out to be exactly what that team had needed, and one of the best Gryffindor seekers of all time. So, for his dad (just in case), James left the tryouts open to any Gryffindor, of any age.

Big mistake, honestly.

Somewhere around 170 students showed up, far more than they'd ever had. Even just getting his rowdy housemates to quiet down long enough so he could give instructions was difficult. Then, once the actual drills commenced, there were so many brooms flying in so many different directions that is was almost nauseating to look at. Forget trying to find someone who was actually talented in that mess.

After the first hour or so, James and K.B. flew around eliminating people. Since they didn't want anyone's feelings to be hurt, they would send the ones they eliminated down to one side of the field to do drills with Fred and Winnie. They were the two youngest on the team, both being only 4th years, but extremely talented players (even if they were only backups).

After another two hours, there were a few players James had his eye on for chasers, and he sent them off to do drills with Michael Wood and his cousin Molly. Molly had been a backup herself the year before, to seventh year Alfie Richards, but now that he'd graduated she'd be playing first string.

Once another hour passed by, he could see everyone getting worn down, so he called a break to discuss the situation with his team. Many of the people at the tryouts didn't even hear him call the break because they were busy goofing off, and they continued to fly around in circles over everyone's head until they realized that the majority of the students had landed.

A few of the first and second year girls were on the verge of tears at this point because they were tired and worn out, so James sent Winnie (the sweetest and most comforting of the girls on the team) to go take care of them and take them back up to the castle. He then discussed with the rest of his teammates what potential they had seen, and who they thought might be worth a shot.

Then James gave Molly the job of sending some "no-brainers," back to the castle, aka the ones who it was obvious that they were never serious about joining the team, and just came down for the hell of it. He chose Molly for this job because she was the most intimidating. She could do a scary good impression of her sister Lucy that was bound to make anyone listen.

A few of the obnoxious 3rd and 4th year boys got extremely offended when Molly told them they hadn't made the team, and demanded to speak to James directly. James didn't really have time to deal with them at the moment, so he very bluntly told them that they hadn't made it. They, in response, very bluntly told him to go fuck himself before storming off the field.

After drills and tests commenced again, about an hour later, around 8 o'clock, a younger girl fell off of her broomstick from an almost ridiculous height, and broke quite a few bones. The sound of her hitting the ground, followed by her loud, high-pitched screaming, was sickening. She was almost instantly healed by Madame White, the school nurse (who was on the Quidditch pitch already, just in case of a situation like this), but many of the students didn't quite feel up to playing after having witnessed that.

Soon enough, they were down to 50 or so people. It was the amount of students who should have been there in the first place- the ones who were actually interested in playing Quidditch for the team. James had his eye on one or two of them, as did K.B., which he was excited about. There was just one hitch in the works. The best candidate for chaser- by far, if you asked James- was Sam Meyer. And unless you know Sam Meyer (or know of him) then you have no idea why this was such a terrible thing. And this was a very terrible thing.

You see, James _hated_ Sam Meyer. James and Sam had been at odds ever since first year, when James' first ever girlfriend had cheated on him with Sam. Sam and James were in constant competition over girls, and every girl who ever dated James would probably end up dating Sam at some point, or vice versa. In fact, Chelsea had just broken up with Sam when she and James started going together. And Sam was not happy about it.

James and Sam were very similar in very many ways. They were both cool and funny and thought they ran the show. Sam was a little bit better at school than James was, and he was always smug about it, but James had always had Quidditch. So if he let Sam on the team… then what would he have?

But Sam was _good._ He hadn't been at the tryouts the year before. James was sure; he would have noticed. But he had major talent that couldn't simply be overlooked. And Captain Potter would never pass up a brilliant player because of some personal grudge. James might, but Captain Potter would never. His team took priority.

After a brief discussion with his other chasers, Molly and Michael, they all decided that Sam was their best best. Michael, being one of James' best friends, knew about his rivalry with Sam, but also knew how much he cared about the team. And he could see Sam's talent for himself. They were in agreement- they would have to let him on.

Because there was room for another backup chaser on the team, there was a fourth year boy named Toby Pritchett who was also very good, who they were considering. He had excellent ball skills and his speed was decent, which could be useful. Though it was doubtful he would see much field time, especially at first, James was still seriously considering him.

At 10 o'clock they were actually ready to wrap up the tryouts. It wouldn't end up going hours overtime this year, thank god. James had decided on Sam Meyer and Toby Pritchett as his new chasers, and he and K.B. had decided that a fifth year girl named Hadley Simmons, who was extremely quick and nimble, would be perfect for a seeker.

Though the decisions were made right then and there, for the sake of preserving feelings James told everyone that they did a great job and that the team roster would be posted on the announcements wall outside of the Great Hall sometime Monday. Then he thanked them all for coming and watched as they slowly left the field, some feeling better than others about their chances, I'm sure.

Soon only his team was left. He thanked them all, too, for their patience and their help controlling all the rowdy Gryffindors.

"No prob, Captain Potter!" Eli exclaimed, patting him on the back. A few of their teammates laughed, mostly out of relief that the tryouts were over and had gone pretty well, actually.

They all started heading back to the castle, but something told James to stay behind. A few of his friends seemed to be waiting for him, but he just waved them on. He couldn't leave just yet.

The grass was wet with dew and suddenly all James wanted to do was sleep, but something was keeping him on the Quidditch pitch. He set his broom down on the ground and then lay next to it, staring up towards the stars and just… thinking.

The fact that the tryouts were over and had gone well and he didn't have to worry about them anymore should have been a huge weight off of his shoulders. Typically, it would have been. But, laying there, he felt just as weighed down as before. As he expected he would feel until he sorted out his feelings.

Then, as if called there by his thoughts, James heard a familiar voice say softly, "Well, that was quite something. I never knew how crazy Quidditch tryouts could get." He looked up to see his (unofficial) ex-girlfriend Chelsea coming towards him slowly, as if he was some kind of dangerous animal.

"How long were you watching?" he asked, as she finished approaching and sat down on the ground beside him. What he didn't know is that Chelsea had been planning to speak to him (about their relationship, of course) all weekend, but had never had the chance because he'd been either locked away in his room, sulking, or otherwise engaged. When someone informed her that Quidditch tryouts were being hosted Saturday evening, she came down after her dinner and watched the end, hoping she'd get a chance to get him alone after they were over. She'd thought she would intercept him on the way back up to the castle, but when he stayed behind on the pitch, she saw her opportunity, and took it.

"I just saw the end really." He was looking up at the sky, but watching her out of his peripheral vision. She was staring down towards the end of the pitch, at nothing in particular. Just not at him.

"That wasn't even the crazy part. You should have seen it in the beginning."

"Well, Quidditch has never really been my thing, anyway."

"Yeah, I know." He had always slightly resented that she couldn't care less about Quidditch, which was one of the most important things to him. All she cared about were the parties held after the big games. Any excuse to dress up and get drunk, Chelsea was in. He used to like that about her; he wondered what was different now.

She didn't respond for a while, and neither did he. It was odd that she was here, and, thought he didn't want to admit it, it felt slightly uncomfortable for him to be alone with her like this. He was waiting for her to reveal why she'd come- because obviously there was a reason.

"So… James," she began, obviously unsure where to start.

"So Chelsea."

"I was thinking… that if you're up for it…" she was speaking very slowly and taking big pauses. James felt he knew where she was going, and stopped her from having to say it.

"You want to get back together?"

"Well, we were never really broken up, were we? Just on break." _It sure felt like a breakup_ , James thought.

"Which basically means broken up."

"Not if we don't want it to! It's been less than a week, if you think about it."

"Has it really?"

"Yeah. Hardly any time at all. Listen- it was a stupid idea in the first place. I never should have suggested it. I don't want to be on break." And he was inclined to believe her. But he wasn't sure if he was ready to dive back into a relationship with her. Besides, she had done this in the first place.

"Are you serious?" he asked. She couldn't read his tone, and glanced down at him, confused.

"Of course I'm serious!"

There was a long pause while James formulated his answer. Chelsea started getting anxious and flipping her platinum blonde hair around and twisting it with her fingers like she did when she was nervous. "Listen, Chels…" he began, and she glared at him angrily.

"James! This whole thing was stupid! Can we just forget it and go back to how we were? Please don't say what I think you're about to say."

"I just don't think I can," he said honestly, sighing.

"Can _what?"_

"Do us anymore." She looked at him in shock- this is obviously not what she thought would happen when she came here.

"What do you mean you can't _do us anymore?!"_ Her voice was getting more and more shrill with every word.

"Once you ended things with me... I got to thinking. And I just don't think this is something I want anymore."

"But James!" she cried indignantly. He was sat up now, and they were both staring at each other. She was so beautiful, but not when she got like this. "You knew we weren't broken up for real! You really took it this seriously? You honestly don't even want to _try_ and start again?"

"I just don't see the point." And he really didn't. He didn't want to do this, but he literally felt like he _had_ to. No matter how much he had once liked her, looking at her now… he was sure. He felt nothing when she met his eyes. Not even sad, not even angry, just… nothing. And he just couldn't be with someone he felt nothing for.

Chelsea, at this point, was getting desperate. She had come to get back together- not break up! So she went into emergency backup plan mode. Before either of them knew what was happening, she practically jumped on top of him and started kissing him. And James kissed her back.

For about half a second. Then, he pushed her off of him and held her at an arms' length away. She wrenched herself out of his grip, fuming with anger. This was not a girl who was used to being rejected, and she wasn't quite sure how to handle herself. She stood up quickly and glared her most withering glare, her cool blue eyes turning to ice.

"Fine. We're done. For real this time." James didn't say anything, and she stared at him for a few moments longer, waiting for the last minute change of heart that she was sure was coming. But it didn't. So, as a final remark, she shouted, "You're going to regret this, James Potter, I swear you will!" before storming off the pitch.

She was always so dramatic.

And suddenly, that omnipresent _thing_ he felt weighing on him earlier was lifted. At least partially. He breathed a large sigh, but it was a sigh of relief, before getting up and returning to the castle himself.

The next morning, he received his return letter from Teddy, which only confirmed what he already knew. Here's what it said:

 _James,_

 _Honestly, mate, I'm not entirely sure what you're writing me for. It seems to be you already know what you need to do, here._

 _So yeah, you fucked up big time with this mysterious "Alice" (gee, I wonder who that could be?). But you wanted to kiss her, right? At least, that's the impression I got. And you didn't kiss her because 1). You technically have a girlfriend, and 2). you're scared of your feelings._

 _There are simple solutions to both of these problems. But since you seem so determined to be teenage-angsty, and even though you already know both of these things, I'm going to have to spell them out for you, it seems._

 _Solution to problem #1: Break up with your girlfriend! Actually, she already broke up with you didn't she? So just don't get back together. Forget about it, and move on. It doesn't seem to me that you even like her that much anyway. So what if she's the fittest girl you've ever met in real life? If this is the same girl I saw a picture of hanging in your room, then yes, she is well fit. But that doesn't mean she's the right girl for you. You know that there are more factors to compatibility than physical attraction, right? If not, then I, as your self-proclaimed mentor, have failed you._

 _Solution to problem #2: Man up! I know you're scared of the things you're feeling for this girl, even if you won't admit to yourself that they scare you. The reason they scare you, mate, is because this girl is_ for real. _You've never had anything real before, and you're worried about what this might mean for you, your reputation, etc._

 _But let me tell you a secret, mate._ It's worth it. _Don't be afraid to pursue something real. I know that it's easier and probably more fun to go after the ones who don't actually mean that much to you. Trust me- I dated a whole string of those. And while I'll never deny that it was fun with those girls, I now see that all of those moments I had with all of them combined, don't add up to one single moment with Victoire._

 _Now, I'm not saying that this mysterious Alice is your Victoire. And I'm not looking to freak you out with all this "real" talk. But I do think that something about this girl, and what you've been feeling for her, scares you. And I think that fear stems from something more, and I think it's something you need to face head-on._

 _Now remember, above all else, that I am no love guru. I don't hold all the answers. The best I can do is tell you what I think, and now I've said my piece. Good luck, mate. Let me know how it all works out._

 _Your (older, wiser, and devastatingly handsome) friend,_

 _Teddy Lupin_

And after reading Teddy's letter, James knew for sure what he had to do.

He had to find Alice Longbottom.

It was Sunday, a day that James knew Alice had deemed "Study Sunday," which meant she'd be busy with homework and stuff all day long. Which meant that she was either in the library, outside, or in her bedroom.

Instead of running around the entire castle looking for her, he decided to use the Marauder's map to check on her location. That is, until he remembered that he'd loaned the map to his cousin Fred, who claimed to partially own it because of who his father was. Which, James decided, was fair enough, so he'd let the kid have it.

Which meant now he'd either have to go searching all over the castle for her… or wait until he saw her in class on Monday. And even though he wasn't sure if he could wait that long, he decided to go with Monday. It would just be easier that way.

They just so happened to have their first class on Monday, Divination, together. He arrived slightly before class began, which was rare for him, seeing as he was always either running late or not there at all. He walked in and flopped down at his table next to his best mate Eli, who was, somewhat surprisingly, there on time as well. Then he did a quick scan of the room, almost immediately finding who he was searching for, sitting at a table near the back. Her warm blue eyes were already trained in his direction, but she quickly turned away when she saw him looking, a flustered blush spreading to her face. She stared determinedly at the wall, not looking at him.

"Longbottom!" he loudly whispered, cupping his hands around his mouth. She definitely heard him, but refused to look his way, though plenty of the other students sitting around them did. He ignored them and tried again. "Longbottom!" Her best friend- who also happened to be James' cousin, Dominique- glared at him, most likely having heard by now what he'd done last Tuesday.

James gave up trying to call her name, and quickly pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, scribbling a brief note to her.

 _Need to talk. After class, wait for me?_

Eli read it over his shoulder as he wrote. Then, James folded it up and turned around again and handed it to the closest person to him, Nora Cleary, who he flashed a charming smile.

"Nora, would you mind passing this to Longbottom for me?" Nora smiled lightly and took the note from him, passing it to the person behind her with a quiet, " _give this to Alice."_ James was worried that Alice would see the note and ignore it, maybe not read it or maybe rip it up because she was so mad at him, but she didn't. She took it and read it carefully, then looked up at him again. Their eyes met for just a second, and something passed between them. Pleading, on his part, and some kind of unspoken agreement from her, however reluctant it may be.

Dominique got a hold of the note then and read it quickly before tearing it up, still scowling. Then she whispered something angrily to Alice, who whispered something back. James turned to Eli and spoke. "I don't know what you see in that girl." He didn't have to specify who he meant, as they had both been watching the two friends across the room, and it could really be no one else.

Eli opened his mouth to respond when the Professor came in, calling class to session and the room to silence. James spent the remainder of the period wondering and worrying about what he was going to say to Alice. If she would even talk to him.

When class ended he lingered by his desk, waiting for the rest of the students to file out. Eli went to get up and leave, too, but James grabbed him on the arm.

"What?" Eli asked, annoyed.

"I need you to distract the demon-spawn," he said, gesturing with his head to where his cousin was now dragging Alice out of the classroom, their arms linked together. Eli looked a little mad, and James realised it was probably because he'd just referred to the girl his friend fancied as a "demon-spawn."

"Fine! I need you to distract the very nice and pretty girl while I apologise to her very nice and pretty friend!" Eli raised his eyebrows slightly at that comment, but then shrugged in reluctant agreement, and they followed quickly after the two girls, who were already making their way down the stairs.

Once they caught up, Eli called Dominique's name, flashing his shiniest, happiest smile. She was having none of it.

"What do you want?" she demanded, eying James suspiciously.

"Can I speak to you for a minute?" he asked, keeping up the smile. She looked at him, and then at Alice, and then at James, and shook her head.

"No, I don't think you can," she answered, continuing to pull Alice away. But Alice stopped.

"It's okay, Dom," she practically whispered as she pulled her arm away. Dominique looked at her friend, obviously confused. "I've got this." Dominique narrowed her eyes, but gave in, turning to walk down the stairs without a backwards glance. Eli shrugged again, and followed quickly after her.

Now James and Alice were standing alone in the stairway, everyone else having gone. Neither of them were moving, and she was still refusing to look at him.

"Al…?" he began, waiting for some kind of signal from her to begin apologizing profusely.

"Don't call me that," she insisted yet again, staring at the floor.

"Okay. Alice…" he said her name slowly and deliberately. At the sound of her first name, she finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes. And the apology came pouring out a immediately after. "I am so so sorry I left you like that. I'm sorry I was being stupid and I'm sorry I didn't kiss you and I don't know why I was acting so strange, or what I was even thinking, but it was totally idiotic and I'm really really sorry." He said this all in one breath. "Please don't be mad at me, and please don't hate me forever, and please say you'll be my tutor again please, please, please?"

Alice hesitated for a moment, though deep down they both knew she would end up forgiving him. "Yes, I forgive you," she relented, causing him to break into a huge smile. "And of course I'll still be your tutor..." she paused, a smile playing on her lips, "but I still hate you."

"Yeah, but you always hate me," James reminded her, feeling the rest of the weight slowly lifting off of him.

"Because you're a giant moron!" she exclaimed, whacking him lightly on the arm and then beginning to walk down the stairs ahead of him.

"The biggest," he agreed, speeding up to walk next to her. "Which is why I need you!"

"What was that?" Alice asked, a cheeky grin on her face. "You need me?"

"To help me study! And stuff…" James corrected.

"New condition!" Alice exclaimed. "I'll forgive you if, and only if, you admit that you need me."

James chuckled, but solemnly placed his left hand over his heart and his right in the air. "I, James Potter, need you, Alice Longbottom... big time."

Alice nodded her approval. "Good. You are officially forgiven."

"You're not gonna come up with any more out-of-the-blue conditions, are you?"

"I will make no such promises."

"Fine then." There was a brief pause, as they continued to walk along. When they reached the bottom floor, James asked, "So, tomorrow?" Tomorrow was Tuesday, their usual studying day.

"Same time, same place," Alice confirmed, and she began to walk off down the hallway, thinking the conversation was over. But there was still one more thing James had to do.

"Hey, Alice?" he asked quietly, and she turned around to look at him. Her big round eyes were staring at him, making him suddenly nervous.

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. "I really did want to kiss you. I don't know why I didn't." She looked sad all of a sudden.

"It's okay, James, you don't have to lie to me. I get it, I'm over it." She didn't believe him!

"I'm serious!"

"Oh, please, spare me. Why-" but before she could finish her thought, James closed the gap between them, grabbed her by her waist, and pulled her in to a deep kiss. He didn't overthink it, and he didn't panic, and the next thing he knew she was kissing him back. She threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him like he'd never been kissed by anyone before.

He lost track of time. It could have been seconds, it could have been days. He didn't really care. When they finally pulled back, both of them breathless and slightly dazed, he stared down into her eyes and whispered, "I meant something like that."

They stood there for a moment longer, and then she pulled away, still breathing heavily, and began backing away from him. Then, without another word, she turned around and walked away faster than he thought possible.

And he was left standing there, alone, amazed, and out of breath… and more confused than ever about his feelings for Alice Longbottom.


	11. HCOM Chapter 10- Rose

**Author's Note: This chapter focuses around Rose's crazy life. She's having a very busy year this year, and let's just say that having Scorpius Malfoy in her life is definitely not helping things. Read on to find out more!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and (most) of these characters, not me.**

Rose Weasley's Nemesis

or

A Few Not-So-Smart Decisions

Rose Nymphadora Weasley was under a ridiculous amount of stress and pressure. Self-inflicted stress and pressure, but stress and pressure all the same.

She was the top of her class (Once again! Take that, Malfoy!), and was taking the very highest amount of classes you could possibly take in your fifth year. Not to mention all the clubs and organizations she was involved in, and all of her volunteer work, and balancing it all with her social life! She was wearing herself into the ground.

Teachers always told her that she was exactly like her mother. Extremely driven, extremely focused, extremely hard working. And she was glad to be like her mother, she really was, but she never let on how much it bothered her that she could never just be _Rose_. She was always "smart like her mother," and never just "smart." She was always being compared, along with being praised. For her, the two came hand in hand.

Rose was the kind of child who everyone prepares to take credit for. The kind of child who was so gifted and so smart and so ahead of the game, that from the time she was very small people had been betting on her. Laying her life out in front of her.

"That girl's going places."

"She's gonna do great things some day."

"Wow! And she's how old?"

"At this rate, she'll be the greatest witch of her generation!"

They all wanted some piece of her genius. Some part of what she had to offer. They all expected her to keep learning at the exponential rate that she was. If she could know the alphabet by the time she was 2 and write stories by the time she was 4 and recite spells by the time she was 6, just imagine what she would do when she was 10! Or 15! Or 20! Or… so on and so on.

In her Muggle primary school (which her dad thought was pointless and her mum had deemed necessary) she was always leaps and bounds ahead of all the other students. And when she got to Hogwarts, she was determined to stay that way. Rose had this _need_ to be the best. She'd always had it, as long as she could remember. She could never let anyone beat her at anything. She never missed any points, and she always made sure to get all the extra credit she could, so that not only was she on top- she was well ahead of the rest.

Well, almost all the rest.

Because, of course, there was always that one bloke who managed to mess everything up for her. Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius made Rose question the very foundations upon which she had built her life. Maybe she wasn't the super-genius she had always thought she was. The genius she was prepared to be. The one everyone had always told her she would become.

Or maybe he was just as much of a genius as she was, which kind of took away any angle of "special" or "exceptional" or "extraordinary" she'd ever had. All the words she'd always grown up hearing about herself, though she hated to admit it, could be applied to him too.

He was just as capable as Rose when it came to school-related stuff, and he tried just as hard, which clearly made him pretty tough competition. Though Rose never was one to shy away from competition. In fact, she embraced it.

She just hadn't anticipated the formidable foe that was Scorpius Malfoy. She wasn't prepared to be challenged for her spot at the top; for her position as "the best." She wasn't ready for the sheer _talent_ of Scorpius Malfoy. And the exhaustive effort he always gave.

Top it all off with a cocky, swaggering, egotistical attitude and wrap it up in a tall, blonde package, and you had yourself a proper antagonist in the odyssey that was Rose Weasley's life.

Practically from day one that arse had been provoking her. The very first time she saw him, on Platform 9 ¾ on her way off to Hogwarts, she knew immediately that there was something off about him; something that just rubbed her the wrong way.

But back then Rose had been naive and silly, and she'd foolishly thought that she could try to ignore her initial apprehension and befriend Scorpius Malfoy. But when she tried, he had called her a "stupid, ugly, mudblood girl." At which point she labeled him as the biggest arse of all time and her new mortal enemy.

These days, Malfoy was provoking her in all new kinds of ways. First, there was the fact that they were paired together in potions class. He was constantly questioning that she knew what she was doing and trying to make her feel inferior. He _always_ knew just what ingredient came next, and what temperature to put the cauldron at, and which way round to stir it, while she only _mostly_ knew.

It had to be potions! She was eternally frustrated that they had to be paired together in _potions_ ; a subject that he had a natural affinity for, and she… not so much. Yes, she was brilliant at potions, but only after working her arse off to be so. Why couldn't they be paired off in charms- she was bloody good at charms without ever having to try. Too bad she couldn't explain this to Malfoy. And even if she did, he obviously wouldn't care.

But potions class was only the beginning. If her exposure to him could be limited to just once a day, she could probably handle that. Unfortunately, they were in quite a few classes together, not even to mention committees and clubs, and all the times she would see him at meals or in the halls. Sometimes she swore he was following her around just to see how many times in one day he could piss her off. She could also swear that she saw him almost more often than some of her close friends. He was omnipresent in her life.

She didn't even really realize this fact until one day Malfoy was struck by one of his idiot friends with a particularly powerful _Slugulus Eructo_ \- the slug-vomiting charm- and spent the whole day in the hospital wing, throwing up slugs.

When she first noticed he was gone, she was ecstatic. A whole day without Malfoy? How did she get so lucky?! But then, as the day went on, she found herself constantly checking over her shoulder and around corners, waiting for him to appear and irritate her. She craned her neck towards the Slytherin table at meals, and in potions class she even felt _lonely_ as she stirred more ingredients into their latest potion. How was she supposed to know whether or not she was about to screw everything up if he wasn't there to tell her so?

And of course she felt like an idiot all day for missing him. Not that she missed him, she just- oh, who was she kidding? She missed him. And it was strange. Maybe it wasn't him, really, that she missed, it was just the... _routineness_ of it all. If you see someone every single day, and talk to them, and squabble with them- or whatever it is you do- then you're likely to feel some kind of absence when they aren't there.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and perhaps this is true. The whole day he was gone she was thrown into some kind of inner turmoil, debating with herself about whether or not she really missed him, and why it was she felt that way. Rose's brain was always working faster than she could keep up with- zipping around from subject to subject- and keeping her in a state of permanent confusion and restlessness. Why? And how come? And what if? These questions were forever swirling around her head, and often kept her up at night. Even when she was resting, she was never really relaxed because of it.

So she was worrying about what this _vacancy_ left by Malfoy could possibly mean. What it meant for her, and what it meant about him. Then the next day, he was back and looking just as healthy as ever- practically _glowing_ with his pale-as-the-moon skin and his golden-white hair, that was perfectly styled as per usual- and he stopped by the Gryffindor table during breakfast, just to annoy her.

"Hey, Weasley," he nudged her back with his elbow, causing her to whip around and glare at him. "You miss me?" He flashed her his ever-smug, ever-charming smile.

"You wish, Malfoy," she said, and he raised his hands up in the air at the hostility in her voice, in a "woah, calm down," kind of gesture. It was one of his favorite gestures to use on her, because it made her feel like she was the one being over-the-top and annoying, instead of the other way around.

"It's alright, Weasley. You don't have to say it. I know you missed me." And even though he was joking, she wished that, just this once, he couldn't see right through her. And then he laughed at the expression she was making and gave her a repulsing wink before heading back over to the Slytherin table. Did he honestly think that was attractive? Nevermind what the flush in her cheeks was saying.

And nevermind Scorpius Malfoy. Nevermind that he was _always_ on her mind; even just nagging at the back of it _._ Nevermind his incessant good looks and his infuriating smirks and the way he wiggled his eyebrows when he was trying to get a rise out of her. Nevermind how bloody _sharp_ he was, how he never missed a beat and always seemed to know _everything_ \- even what she was thinking. Especially what she was thinking.

He was still a git. And an ceaseless show-off. And the biggest arse of all time.

And she had bigger fish to fry.

She had places to be, people to see, and a thousand things to do. September was passing in a flash; they were well on the way to October and it felt like she'd just arrived at the castle yesterday. Time flies when you're having fun, but, as Rose was now experiencing, it also flies when you're busy as hell. Her best friend Albus was always trying to get her to _slow down,_ cornering her in the library or the common room and forcing her to talk to him, even for just a few minutes.

Her other friends tried as well, mostly with minimal success. She made time for them, of course, but it always felt like it wasn't enough. They would hang out at meals, and on Fridays and Saturdays, but as soon as the new week rolled around Rose was gone once again. She was always leaving discussions with her friends to go finish some project or read some more of some book or attend some meeting for some organization.

" _I feel like I never see you anymore, Rosie."_

That's what everyone said to her these days. Al, Cara, Norrie, Toby, Liam, Fred. All of them. They just didn't understand. They had OWLs this year! She seriously had to buckle down, so that's what she was doing. Why she seemed to be the only one, she wasn't really sure.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Her friends were working harder this year, as well. Just not as hard as Rose. Though, they'd never worked as hard as Rose. No one did (except Malfoy, damn him). Her friends often studied together in the library, and of course they always invited her and she was always welcome, but she hardly ever joined them. They got way too distracted too easily, and she found it extremely difficult to actually get any work done when she was with them. She had to be alone in order to properly focus.

So she would go to the library with them, and sit at their table and work on whatever it was she was working on for about 10 minutes or so, or as long as it took for things to start to disintegrate into whispers and giggles, and then she would allow herself 15 more minutes with them before she excused herself to go get some actual work done.

At this point, she often found herself in the single-person table area of the library, hidden back behind the stacks and stacks of books, in the area where it was the quietest. The tables had little walls built around them so people couldn't really see you, and you couldn't see them. It was quiet, and peaceful, and perfect. It was her study-sanctuary.

And, of course, Malfoy found a way to ruin it for her. Like he ruined everything. On some days- not all the time, but sometimes- he would pop by her little sanctuary and plop himself down in the table nearest hers, typically the one right behind her. And he would do everything in his power to distract her from her work.

He would hum quietly to himself. Or kick his foot on the side of his desk to make an incessant pounding noise. Or read _out loud,_ even if it was just in hushed whispers. In the silence, she heard every little sound he made like it was a gunshot.

Sometimes, he would even address her directly. He'd whisper " _Weasley. Weasley. Weasleeeeyyyyy,"_ over and over again until she responded. And it would always be about something stupid. Sometimes, it was to ask her what she was working on, like he could care. Sometimes it was to ask her a stupid homework question that he clearly already knew the answer to. Sometimes, it would be to brag about his latest perfect score on this or that assignment. Sometimes it was to share with her meaningless pieces of Hogwarts gossip that she couldn't really care less about. Especially since it was mostly Slytherin gossip, and she didn't give a flying shit what the Slytherins were up to.

Once, he even bothered her just to ask her if she liked his jumper. His plain, dark grey, uniform-standard jumper. The same one that everyone had. And when she shook her head in disgust and refused to respond, he proceeded to ask her about his shoes, his trousers, and his tie. All part of the uniform. Then, he asked her if she liked his hair like _this,_ and he ruffled it all up and made it a mess, or like _this,_ and he slicked it back. To this, she couldn't resist replying.

"You look like a smarmy git no matter what your hair is doing," she whispered maliciously, "But the slicked back look definitely brings out your inner evil. So, if that's what you're going for, do that one."

He had nodded like he was taking her "advice" seriously. And then he sat back down, concealed once again by the walls around his table, and whispered just quietly enough for her to still hear him, "Well, anything's better than that mess you call hair."

She'd picked up her books and stormed out after that. Like she was just going to sit there and listen to him play childish distracting games and insult her. Smarmy git.

When she told the story to Albus he just laughed and brushed it off. He was used to hearing about how much Rose hated Scorpius by this point. Everyone was. It barely phased him anymore- in fact, he mostly just ignored her when she started talking about it and waited for her to let it all out.

"I can't stand him, Al, I really can't," she was saying, and he was nodding like he was listening, but not really listening at all. Their friends Cara, Norrie, and Liam joined them where they were sitting in the common room, and hopped into the conversation.

"Who can't Rosie stand?" Liam asked, and Albus looked at him like he was stupid.

"Who do you think?"

"Still hung up on that guy, then, Rosie?" Liam turned to Rose, and she glared at him.

"I am not hung up on him! He just won't stop annoying me. You know how he is! He's-"

" _The biggest arse of all time,_ " they all finished the quote for her in unison. Rose crossed her arms and sunk back into the couch, scowling.

"Exactly right," she mumbled, even though she knew they were making fun of her.

"I don't think he's so bad…" Cara said softly to no one in particular, though Rose still heard her and turned, glaring, towards her friend, like she'd just said she didn't think _Lord Voldemort_ was that bad. No one else seemed particularly bothered. In fact, they all looked slightly amused, for some reason.

"Of course you don't, Cara," Norrie said teasingly, nudging her on the arm. Rose glared confusedly between the two of them.

"What the bloody hell has gotten into you two?" Rose demanded, looking to Liam for support. He and Norrie glanced at each other like two people who shared a secret, and the two of them burst into laughter. "What the hell?!"

"Well, our darling Cara over here-" Liam began, but Cara suddenly sprang at him and practically leapt on top of him, covering his mouth with her hands.

"Shut up, Liam!" she shouted. Rose looked between the two of them, and then at Norrie, who was laughing even harder now, and then at Al, who seemed to be the only one keeping his composure.

"Can you lot stop acting like a bunch of freaks and tell me what the bloody hell is going on?!" Rose demanded. Cara stayed on top of Liam, so it was Norrie who spoke up.

"CarafanciesMalfoynow," she spoke very quickly, so it was all like one word.

"Cara… what?" Rose couldn't process what her friend had just said.

"Norrie! You weren't supposed to tell!" Cara exclaimed, looking at Rose in panic. Rose just sat there, staring between her friends like she was in shock.

"You all knew about this?" she asked slowly, looking specifically at Albus this time, because he was supposed to be her _best friend_ and they were supposed to tell each other everything. He just sat there, looking untroubled and not even the slightest bit ashamed. It was kind of like his unspoken job to be "the calm one" in these situations, whenever there was drama between their friends. He never took anyone's side and was always the advocate for the diplomatic solution. Sometimes, she relied on him to be that steady, calming force, and other times it just royally pissed her off. This time, it was the latter.

"Yeah, we all knew," Liam admitted, once Cara released him. She slumped onto the floor in front of Rose, looking like she was about to get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness. Liam at least had the decency to look mildly apologetic, and Norrie had now managed to conceal her laughter into small, periodic giggles.

"Toby and Fred as well?" she asked, not daring to believe it. No one answered her, but their silence was confirmation enough. "And you all kept this from me because…?" Again, no one answered, so she addressed her cousin directly. "Al? Why are you guys keeping secrets from me?" She kept her voice steady and level, but they could all sense the anger brewing underneath, and feared an explosion at any moment.

Albus sighed. "Because, Rosie, Cara was afraid of how you might react because she knows how much you hate Malfoy. And she didn't want you thinking any less of her, or winding up hating her because of it or anything."

"I wouldn't- I mean-" Rose stammered, turning to her friend on the floor. "Is this true, Cara?"

Cara nodded solemnly, hiding her face in her mousy brown hair. "I just didn't know how to tell you, Rosie. I was afraid of how you would react. And I tried to keep it in for a long time-"

"How long?" Rose interrupted her. "How long have you felt this way?"

"I don't know," Cara struggled, her voice soft and uneasy, "Since at least last year."

"Last year?!" Rose exclaimed, and it came out louder than she expected, making her poor friend wince.

"I only found two weeks ago," Norrie butted in, as if this released her from all blame.

"You knew two weeks ago? I just found out last weekend!" Liam interjected, somehow managing to make things about him.

"Yeah, and you couldn't keep your mouth shut for even a week!" Cara scolded. "I should have known better than to tell Norrie. She's such a blabbermouth."

"Hey!" Norrie protested, though she knew it was true.

"And when were you planning on telling me?" Rose's scary-calm voice had returned. She was calculating in her head, weighing the potential benefits and drawbacks of different reactions on her part, and what they would mean for her friendship with Cara. Obviously she didn't _hate_ her friend. And,sure, she was upset that she hadn't told her, and wished she could be crushing on someone other than _Malfoy,_ but that didn't mean anything for their friendship. Or, it shouldn't...

"I was gonna tell you, Rose, I swear!" Cara insisted. "First I had to admit it to myself, and then I had to see if it developed, or just died off. And when it didn't go away… I knew I was screwed, basically. And I knew I was going to have to tell you, I just… didn't know how. Or when. And I was scared." They were all watching her as she said this- Albus, Norrie, and Liam looking sympathetic, and Rose looking like she still wasn't quite sure how to react.

"So…" Rose began, carefully choosing her next move, as this would determine where they went from here. "So… Malfoy? Sorry, Cara, but I just don't see the appeal." And then she smiled. And it was as if the entire collective group let out a breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding, Cara especially.

Later, when all their friends had gone off, Albus cornered Rose and asked her if she was actually fine with this, or if she was just pretending for Cara's sake. She replied by saying: "I'll let you know once I figure it out for myself."

And she still wasn't sure. Was she fine? Was she actually cool with this? I mean, Malfoy was her mortal enemy, and Cara was one of her best friends. So obviously, she didn't approve of that right out of the gate. But… there was something else nagging at her; she just wasn't sure what.

The logical part of her brain was telling her that a good friend would support their mate no matter who (or what) they liked. The reasonable part of her brain was telling her that if Cara fancied Malfoy, who was she to stop her? Let her fancy the smarmy git, it shouldn't make any difference to her. It shouldn't affect how she felt about either of them. She could still be Cara's best friend, and still hate Malfoy. She didn't have to like him just because her friend did.

But then there was the nagging, irrational, think-with-your-gut side of her brain, filling her head with thoughts that she kept trying to push away. Thoughts like: _Couldn't she have picked_ anyone _else? Literally anyone?_ Or: _Cara and Malfoy would never work together. Their personalities are too different. They don't have any chemistry._

And then the even darker thoughts, the ones she pretended like she wasn't thinking at all. The ones she chose to not acknowledge, even if she couldn't stop them from happening. Thoughts like: _Has she ever even spoken to him before? She says she "fancies" him, but what does she know? She doesn't even know him. Not like I do._ Or: _Malfoy would never go for Cara anyway, she's just not… exciting enough for him. He needs someone to challenge him._ Or: _She just had to have_ my _Malfoy. She couldn't just let this one thing be mine. She has to have all my friends, and everything else of mine, too._

This last one stemmed back to the fact that Cara had only ever joined their friend group because of Rose, though no one ever seemed to remember or acknowledge that fact. Cara was naturally a very shy and quiet person, and hadn't made many friends in the beginning of her time at Hogwarts. She became friends with Rose sometime around mid second year, and Rose had been the one to introduce her to the group. They had taken to her pretty quickly, and by now no one even remembered the original group, and it seemed like Cara was as much a part of it as Rose herself, often even more so, because Rose was always so busy other things.

Rose didn't think that this bothered her, but it clearly (at least somewhat) did. She also didn't like to think that she had any attachment to Scorpius Malfoy other than her hatred of him, though this was also, obviously, just a lie she told herself.

But of course she would go along with it, and support her friend, no matter how much she actually hated the idea of it, or how much she was sure that it was never _ever_ going to happen between Cara and Scorpius. She would pretend to be on board, and never let anyone know otherwise. Not even Al, though he was likely to see right through her. Besides Malfoy himself, Albus was another one who could always seemingly read her mind, even when she was trying to be sneaky. He always said he saw everything she was feeling in her eyes, though she liked to think she was a bit less transparent than that.

That Friday, there was rumored to be a big party happening in one of the empty classrooms on the sixth floor, and Rose and her friends were all excited to go. Well, her friends were all excited to go. Rose wasn't sure she could afford to take a whole night off, besides, she had been feeling fairly under-the-weather for the whole second half of the week. She'd felt vaguely ill ever since she'd found out Cara's news, really, but she knew the rule that correlation does not imply causation (which, just in case you don't know, basically means that just because she started feeling sick right after Cara told her, didn't necessarily mean that it was Cara's news that made her ill), so she chose to mark it off as a coincidence.

Her friends didn't believe that she actually didn't want to come, and they tried at every possible chance to convince her to go with them. Then, in Defense class on Thursday she overheard Malfoy and one of his slimy friends talking about it, and she began to actually consider going. She figured that if he went, at least she knew he wouldn't be getting ahead of her if she took the night off. At least, that's what she told herself her reasoning was.

She wasn't sure why, but she didn't tell Cara that she knew Malfoy was going to be there, though she felt guilty about it later.

When Friday night finally rolled around, Rose sat on her bed and debated with herself while all of her roommates got dressed up, ready to go out. They sat around curling their hair and applying their makeup, and Rose sat on her bed, watching them.

"C'mon, Rosie! It's just one night off! And it's gonna be so much fun!" Norrie pleaded with her for the thousandth time, twirling around the room with half her hair straightened, trying to find her other earring.

"I just… ughhhh!" Rose groaned, flopping back on her pillow. It was so soft- she really just wanted to sleep. Once again, she weighed the advantages and drawbacks of going. She was exhausted after a full week of non-stop work, and she still wasn't sure whether she was sick or not. But she didn't want them all having fun without her! And what if Cara got there and saw Malfoy, and then she went up to him and started talking to him-

"Alright!" she shot up out of her bed, startling her roommate Meghan, who was closest to her. "I'll go!"

"Yay!" Norrie cheered, bouncing up and down. "I know exactly what you can wear!"

Albus showed up at their room half an hour later, demanding that they get going before all the booze was gone. Liam, Toby, and Fred had all gone on without them, determined to get there before the party ran dry. Cara and Norrie insisted that they needed a few more minutes, though, what for, Rose had no idea. She had been ready for a while now, but, then again, she hadn't done anything with her hair. She insisted that there was nothing to be done about "that mess she called hair," so she hadn't even bothered.

She could see that Al was getting antsy, so she told him they could go, and the two of them went on without their other friends. Together, the cousins snuck through the empty after-hours corridors, trying very hard not to be too loud, or get caught. She wondered how the rest of her obnoxious guy-friends had done it, since they could never shut up, even when it was important.

Once they finally arrived at the classroom they'd been told, they weren't sure they were even in the right place until they walked through the doors and, subsequently, through the sound-barrier charms, and found themselves abruptly in the midst of a very noisy, very crowded teenage party.

They took the first few steps into the room, and Rose suddenly felt very insecure about the outfit Norrie had given her to wear. It was a low-cut blue tank top (because blue was meant to "compliment her hair!") and a high-waisted black skirt that she now felt was way too short on her.

Was she too overdressed? Everyone else was managing to pull off their dressed-up looks; none of them looked like they were trying too hard. Was she trying too hard? She always tried too hard. At everything.

She pulled down her skirt slightly and made her way deeper into the party with Albus, trying desperately hard not to wobble on her heels. She'd taken them off to sneak through the castle, as they were obviously too loud, but had put them back on right before she'd entered the party. Why did she have to wear heels? She didn't even know how to walk in these stupid things!

And then, as if the universe were trying to prove her right, to punish her for wearing the world's most ridiculous shoes, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled into a boy. And _of course_ it wasn't just any boy. Of course it was him.

He reached out to catch her as she wobbled, out of reflex. Then he looked and saw who it was, and yanked himself away from her like she was an open flame instead of a person. She straightened up and looked him straight in the eye, trying to communicate something with her look. Maybe something along the lines of "calm down, Malfoy, I didn't mean to bump into you," and also "geez, you don't have to treat me like such a disease." In any case, he didn't seem to be getting it, and continued to stare at her like he was in shock.

"Got a problem, Malfoy?" Albus questioned from where he stood to Rose's left. At Al's words, Scorpius seemed to suddenly unfreeze, and his eyes flickered between Rose and her cousin, before they settled on Rose and moved slowly down her body and back up again. Was Malfoy checking her out?

He saw her perplexed look and raised his eyebrows at her, his mouth pulled into a close-lipped smirk, as it always was. His eyes were trying to tell her something, too, but she was seriously freaked out, and wasn't bothering to try and figure it out.

"Nice skirt, Weasley," he said in his smug little voice, and she felt her face turn bright red. She had to get out of there, before things could get any weirder, so she gave Malfoy her nastiest look before she turned and walked quickly away, not even checking to make sure Al was behind her. She felt like she could feel his eyes still on her as she walked away, and she pulled her skirt down self-consciously.

She couldn't believe that Malfoy had just done the elevator-eyes at her! And was he being sarcastic with the skirt comment, or what? She couldn't tell if the whole thing made her uncomfortable, or if she was flattered, or maybe a little of both. Maybe she didn't look so ridiculous after all! Wait, why was she excited? Shouldn't she be appalled or something?

When her brain stopped reeling from what had just happened, she looked around for Albus, but couldn't see him anywhere. What she didn't know was that, while she had fled from the scene, Albus had stayed behind to confront Scorpius.

"Keep your disgusting thoughts to yourself! And keep them the hell away from Rosie!" Albus asserted, after witnessing the exchange between the two.

"Calm down, Potter," Scorpius had retorted, practically spitting the name. His hands were shoved loosely into his pockets, while Al's were clenched in fists at his side. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, you bloody well do! And you're going to cut it out, before I make you," the dark haired boy threatened.

"You're going to make me?" Scorpius fake-laughed. They could both see that Scorpius was a good 4 inches taller than Albus was, and it was obvious who would win in a fight, magical or otherwise.

"Yeah, I just might unless you _back the hell off,_ and stop messing with her head!"

"Messing with her-" Scorpius laughed again, this time with what sounded to the untrained ear like surprise, but was more like nervousness. "What, is Weasley confused by her obvious attraction to me?"

Albus shook his head in disgust. "Keep dreaming, Malfoy." And then he turned and walked away to go find Rose, leaving Scorpius feeling the opposite of Albus' intended result- not slightly intimidated, but slightly encouraged instead.

Meanwhile, Rose was making her way through the party on a search for her friends, and she found herself struck with a newfound aura of confidence. If Malfoy thought she looked hot- which he hadn't outright said, but his eyes had suggested- then she must really be hot! She was so wrapped up in her own head, in fact, and replaying the scene over and over again in her mind, that she didn't realize she was verbalizing her thoughts, like she did sometimes when she wasn't paying attention, until it was too late.

Her cousin Roxanne grabbed her arm, and Rose felt all of her new confidence vanish in an instant. And it wasn't because Roxanne looked amazing, because of course she did- she always did. And it wasn't because she was slightly intimidated by her older, cooler cousin, though of course she was- she always had been. It was because Roxanne grabbed her and looked at her like she was amused and said, "What did you say Rosie? That you 'look hot tonight?'"

And suddenly Rose realized that she'd been talking out loud, and she must have been saying that she looked good. Oh, Merlin, how mortifying.

"I- I just…" Rose didn't know what to say.

"Because of course you look hot!" Roxanne assured her, sensing her cousin's embarrassment. "You could have any guy at this party!"

 _Well not_ any _guy…_ Rose thought, her mind going immediately to Malfoy. Because they were enemies, of course! And he would never go for her. _Though actually, after that look..._

"What look?" Roxanne asked, confused again.

"What? Nothing!" Rose exclaimed, not believing that she'd done it again. In the middle of a bloody conversation! Where was her head tonight?

"Rosie, are you okay?" Roxanne seemed genuinely concerned.

"Yes, of course," Rose said, rather unconvincingly. "I'm fine, I just…" she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed a deep, dramatic sigh. Roxanne decided that whatever was going on with Rose, she should try and help, so she put her arms around her cousin's shoulders and led her towards the nearest wall, where they sat down together.

"So what's going on? Boy trouble?" she asked carefully. Of course Roxanne guessed that it was trouble with boys. She had enough of that in her own life to know the symptoms.

"Not exactly. Well, it's not typical boy trouble. It's complicated."

Roxanne smiled good-naturedly. "It's always complicated with blokes. Trust me. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Rose answered honestly, though her head was pounding, like her thoughts were banging against her skull, demanding to be let out. Maybe talking about it couldn't hurt. "It's just Malfoy."

"Your nemesis?" Roxanne asked, not seeming surprised by this in the slightest.

"Yeah," Rose shrugged, "my nemesis. He's just…" And the next thing she knew, she was ranting. "He's just so bloody obnoxious! Every time he smiles at me I swear to Dumbledore I just want to punch him in the face! And he's so _freaking_ smart and he knows everything and he makes everything look so bloody _easy!_ And what the hell was that _look_ about? How DARE he look at me like that? Who the hell does he think he is? And what's he trying to pull?! He has no right- not to mention now Cara fancies him! She'd kill me if she knew- not that there's anything to know! Because we hate each other! Obviously. And even if he did think about me like that- not that I'd want him to! I just don't- I mean I can't… I can't bloody stand him."

She looked over at Roxanne and was embarrassed again. Embarrassed that she'd said so much and that she'd acted like a jabbering idiot.

Roxanne was processing and trying to give advice without setting her cousin off again. She didn't want to upset her, but, to her, it was obvious what was wrong. Rose was in some serious denial, that's all it was. But if you try to tell someone who's in denial that they're in denial, they'll deny being in denial, you know? So she had to take a different approach.

"Did you say Cara fancies him now?" she settled on asking, because this wasn't focused directly on Rose's feelings.

"Did I say that?" Rose asked, wondering when she became such a blabbermouth. Just like Norrie. Roxanne nodded. "Well dammit all. You can't tell anyone, okay? It's supposed to be a secret!"

"Who would I even tell?" Roxanne asked, and Rose rolled her eyes at her.

"Maybe that stupid gossiping best friend of yours," she joked, but Roxanne didn't seem to find it funny. In fact, she looked sad all of a sudden.

"You don't have to worry about James."

"What? Why not?" Rose's problems were quickly pushed to the back of her mind.

"It's nothing," Roxanne shook her head, but her tone didn't make it sound like nothing. "He's just been busy lately."

"Busy how? Busy with what?"

"Vying for the affections of Alice Longbottom." Now this, Rose couldn't seem to comprehend. It didn't make any sense. Were they talking about the same person, or was there some miscommunication?

"Alice Longbottom?" she clarified, and Roxanne nodded solemnly.

"Haven't you heard? James is desperately in love with her now."

"James Potter is _desperately_ in love with _Alice Longbottom?!"_ Rose asked, completely shocked by this news.

"Jeeze, Rosie, do you live under a rock?" _More like a Malfoy-induced fog,_ Rose couldn't stop herself from thinking. "The whole school's been swarming about it. He dumped his girlfriend for her."

"Chelsea Creevy?"

"The very same."

"Wow." Rose didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah. You're not the only one who didn't see this coming." Roxanne did not seem happy about this particular change in her life, and now that Rose thought about it she hadn't heard of any crazy pranks being pulled around the castle lately. Had they stopped pranking? Were they even hanging out? And _Alice Longbottom?_

"I'm sorry, Roxy. Are you doing okay?" Roxanne looked up and suddenly seemed to realize that the conversation had shifted completely away from Rose's problems and onto her own, and she really didn't want to talk about it.

"What? Of course, I'm fine. It has nothing to do with me, really." And Rose could tell she was lying, but decided not to push it.

Just then, Albus finally spotted his missing friend and made his way over to where his two cousins were sitting. He didn't realize that they were in the middle of a semi-deep conversation, and he said loudly, "Rosie! There you are- oh, hey, Roxanne," he added like an afterthought. She smiled gently and waved her hand. "C'mon, Rose, our friends are over here!" He gestured behind himself.

Rose looked at Roxanne like she wasn't really sure if she should leave her. "Oh, of course, of course, go enjoy the party!" Roxanne said with an enthusiasm that seemed forced. "I'm gonna go find Grayson- I'm sure he's around here somewhere." She waved her hand vaguely in the air.

"Okay… well, talk to you later, I guess!" Rose also faked enthusiasm. Roxanne waved brightly, and Rose let Albus help her up and lead her over to those mates of theirs.

When they got to them, Cara and Norrie had made it to the party, both of them looking spectacular, which she told them so. They thanked her and acted surprised, though they'd both spent enough time looking in the mirror to know that they looked great. Fred handed her a drink, which she accepted gratefully, and downed before the rest of them even noticed. She reached over and grabbed one of Toby's drinks out of his hand (he was somehow holding three) and downed that one as well.

"Hey!" he protested, but she gave him a look that told him to shut up. It was about time she let loose.

"Toby, listen," she said to him, leaning in conspiratorially, "I need to be drunk tonight. I really do. Please don't ask why, just help me." Toby seemed to understand, as she had suspected he would, and he nodded enthusiastically, handing her his second drink and going off to get a few more, no questions asked. Thank Merlin for that! Toby was always down for getting smashed, he didn't need a reason, and he was very enthusiastic whenever his friends decided to join him.

Soon enough, she had lost track of how many drinks she had had, but she knew she was feeling tipsy. She enjoyed the buzz, and the fuzzy feeling in her head, and how, for once, it didn't seem like her thoughts were berating her or demanding for her attention. Everything, including what she was thinking, seemed slower, and easier to manage. She gradually felt herself loosening up, forgetting whatever she was so stressed about, and she began to laugh and dance to the music.

Liam noticed that she was acting a little more out-there than Rose usually acted. "You doing okay, Rosie?" he leaned in and said into her ear. She nodded and gave him a thumbs up, and Toby, who had been watching her like a hawk ever since her request (to make sure he was doing a good job), leaned over and put his arm around Rose and told Liam:

"Rosie's gonna have a good night tonight. She's letting loose." Liam raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn't say anything.

"I think it's working!" she said to Toby, in a voice that was way-too-excited; one she would never normally use. Then, she looked around from under Toby's arm and caught sight of a head of platinum blonde hair and a pair of steely eyes already trained in her direction. She met his gaze, expecting him to look away, like a person usually does when they're caught staring. But he didn't.

They stared at each other from across the room, her from over the shoulder of her friend, and him from over the head of who Rose could only assume to be his girlfriend, Ruby Bulstrode. And, for just a moment, it was like no one else even existed. Like they were the only two people in the room.

Then, Rose had an idea.

It was not, by any means, a good idea. But, in her impaired state of mind, all of her good judgement had gone out the window, as had most of her inhibitions. She turned to Toby and said to him, "Let's go dance!" in that same over-the-top voice. He raised his eyebrows, but as she grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the area where other people were dancing, he shrugged at their friends and went with her.

Rose checked to make sure Scorpius was still watching her. But he wasn't this time; he was looking down at his girlfriend, talking to her. And smiling. She felt a wave of irritation and something verging on resentment overtake her, but she pushed it aside and began to dance. She grabbed Toby and pulled him close, and he seemed confused at first but then he got into it, and together they danced, their hips swaying in rhythm with each other and with the beat of the song. Rose's mouth was open and her throat was dry, but she was smiling, and everything, for some reason, seemed really amusing, so she began to laugh. Toby didn't know why she was laughing, but he began to laugh too, and then suddenly both of his hands were on her hips and she was pressed up against him.

The constant nagging voice in the back of her head was yelling at her again, trying to tell her something. Probably something like: "This is too much, Rose. You're going too far; stop it now." But she didn't listen, or care. Screw you, voice of reason! She swiveled her head around and caught sight of Scorpius again, and this time he was looking right at her. And she smiled even wider and pulled Toby even closer, even though she knew it was wrong. In that moment, she didn't care. In that moment, she thought she had something to prove.

Then, Ruby Bulstrode saw Scorpius staring, and she turned around to see what he was looking at, narrowing her eyes once she spotted Rose. She shook her head in disgust and said something to Scorpius, which only made Rose more angry. Who the hell was Ruby Stupid-Face Bulstrode to judge her?

She heard Toby say something to her, and turned back to him, asking loudly, "What?"

He leaned in so he was talking right in her ear, so there was no way she wouldn't hear him. "I said that you look good tonight, Rosie."

Oh no.

There was something in his tone, and the way he was suddenly looking at her, that made her anxious. She wasn't sure she liked where this was heading.

"Thanks!" she said, not sure what else to say. She realized that their faces were so close that if she moved even a few centimeters, they would be kissing. She pulled a little bit back from him, but he just followed her, so their faces were still the same distance apart.

And then, the next thing she knew, he was leaning in. And she didn't have the wherewithal to stop him, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. She just let it happen, even though it was wrong and it was definitely going to bite her in the butt tomorrow. All she knew was that she was drunk, that she looked hot, that one of her best friends was about to kiss her, and that Scorpius Malfoy was watching. So she went for it.

Merlin, for a smart girl, she sure was stupid.

She and Toby started making out, right there in the middle of everyone, and after a moment she thought she heard a high pitched squeal and a lot of surprised laughter, letting her know that her friends had noticed. Oh no. This was definitely not good.

He wasn't even a good kisser. They were both too drunk and sloppy, and she questioned if he was even enjoying this. Because she sure wasn't.

She wondered if there was any way she could stop this. She felt she had to stop it before it went any further, but didn't know if she could without hurting Toby's feelings. Had she been less intoxicated, she would have realized that it wasn't such a big deal just to pull back and walk away, but then again, had she been less intoxicated she would have never ended up here in the first place.

So she let it happen. Maybe it was 5, maybe 10 minutes later (it was hard to tell), when he finally pulled away for some air and she gently removed herself from his arms, apologizing with her eyes. He looked confused, but she turned from him and walked swiftly away. She probably would have ran had she not been wearing those ridiculous heels.

She thought he would have followed after her, but after a minute she turned around and he was nowhere in sight. Neither were any of her friends. She was sure one of them would have followed after her to make sure she was okay!

Suddenly Rose was fuming with anger, and also feeling very muddled and upset. Her friends didn't care about her! If they had they would have seen that she was drunk and stopped her from kissing Toby! This was their fault!

Well maybe it wasn't their fault… but it certainly wasn't hers! So whose…?

 _Him._

She spotted him from across the room yet again, and stormed over towards where he was standing, no longer with his girlfriend. She was about to approach him and tell him off when she realized that she really didn't want to fight with Malfoy right now, and so she changed her mind and headed, instead, for the door. She just wanted to go back to her room and sleep.

Unfortunately for her, he had noticed her angrily barreling towards him, and stopped her as she was on her way out.

"Leaving so soon, Weasley?" He asked, his voice condescending as ever, as he blocked her path.

"Get out of my way, Malfoy," she demanded, as clearly and as forcefully as she could manage.

"Does this have anything to do with your mate? The one you were just snogging?" He looked over to where Toby and the rest of her friends must be, but she refused to look in their direction. And of course he saw, she had wanted him to see, after all, but that didn't make it any less mortifying to hear him actually mention it out loud.

"No!" She cried indignantly, before quickly shifting to, "Well, maybe... Anyway, what do you care? It's got nothing to do with you. Just let me leave!" Technically, he wasn't doing anything to stop her from leaving, but his presence there between her and the door made her feel like she was glued to the spot.

"I don't care," he proclaimed, though he so obviously did. "I just noticed the poor bloke looked devastated when you ran away from him."

"I didn't-" she began, but then she stopped herself because she definitely did, and they both knew it.

"Was he a bad snogger?" Scorpius asked, grinning devilishly. That was the last straw! She shoved past him and headed for the door without answering, very aware of the fact that he was still right behind her, following her.

When she got to the door she went to take off her heels before heading into the hallway again, but in her inebriated state she couldn't seem to get them without completely falling over. Instead of stumbling and giving Malfoy the satisfaction of catching her again, she just reached out and grabbed his shoulder to steady herself as she removed her shoes. He seemed surprised by this, but didn't try to stop her.

After she was done (now no longer on eye-level with Malfoy, but quite significantly shorter than him again) she turned to face him, ready to tell him to fuck off, when he surprised her by saying-

"I thought you looked like quite a good kisser."

Oh my Merlin. Did he just say that, or was she drunker than she thought? His face suggested that he was thinking along those same lines.

She considered sticking with the classic "fuck off," retort she had been planning before, but instead she decided to give it right back to him.

"Maybe you'll have to see for yourself some time." He looked taken aback by her response, and seemed to be blushing, though it was hard to tell in the dim lighting. She definitely was, but that could be easily blamed on the firewhiskey.

Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, she wheeled around and pushed herself out into the hallway, where it was like she entered a sound vacuum, everything suddenly going silent. She felt the door close behind her, and once she was sure that no one was coming out after her, she sat down against the wall, and began to cry.

And she didn't know what she was crying about, she just knew that she was sad, and that she wanted to go to bed, and that she was definitely going to regret everything she had just done tomorrow.

 **A.N.: Oh, Rosie, what have you done? I like that Rose is a very put-together, hardworking type of person, but even she makes mistakes and breaks down. She's obviously going through alot right now, so it might take her a little while to realize the true weight of her feelings for this boy. The next chapter is going to be about Fred II's wild adventures. Please review if you liked it, and read on!**


	12. HCOM Chapter 11- Fred

**Author's Note: Okay so this chapter is all about Fred II. This chapter took me a really long time because I had trouble establishing Fred as his own character, someone other than just a reincarnation of his dad. I still don't know if I captured him exactly how I wanted to, but this is how it turned out! Let me know what you think/if you're enjoying the story overall so far!**

 **Disclaimer: JKR owns Hogwarts and (most) of these characters, not me.**

Fred Weasley's Big Plan

Or

Too Much Drama

Fred Arthur Weasley was having a rather interesting week.

It started with an insanely awesome prank (well, technically it was an idea for an insanely awesome prank, but we'll get into that in a minute) and it ended with his best mate snogging his cousin. Yes, quite an interesting week indeed.

Let's focus on the prank part for now.

So it all started a few weeks earlier when someone mentioned offhand to Fred that his sister was really slacking on the pranks this year. Fred's older sister, Roxanne, and his cousin James were currently Hogwarts' most notorious pranksters, and had been since their first year. And Fred, as the son of one of the most high-profile pranksters of all time (and named after one too) had always wanted to be known for his legendary pranks, like his father. Unfortunately for him, his sister was a year ahead of him and had basically cornered the market on pranks at the school by the time he arrived. There simply wasn't room for the two of them (or three, I suppose, if you include James).

Fred had always supported his sister and his cousin, as he was, quite honestly, a big fan of their work. He had a great respect for all makers-of-mayhem. Having grown up with all his dad's stories of his time at Hogwarts, how could he not be? No matter how much he hated to admit it, he really looked up to them.

So when someone brought up that his sister was slacking, Fred was all ready to defend her honor when he realized… that they were right.

When he thought about it, he realized that Roxy and James hadn't actually pulled a decent prank in weeks! Since practically the first week of school, and they were now over a month in.

So he asked Roxanne about it. And her eyes got all distracted and far away, and she brushed it off and said something about "too many detentions," and "a lot going on," and "suspicious professors." And then he asked her if she had any plans for any pranks coming up. And she said that she didn't.

Fred couldn't believe what he was hearing! Roxanne and James always had a plan! They were constantly devising ideas for their next prank, and the one after that, and the one after that. They were always tossing around ideas, some of which they even ran past Fred to see what he thought. Most of their ideas were dangerous or unrealistic, and never formed into actual plans, but some of them were quite brilliant.

So what did this mean that they didn't have anything lined up? Were Roxanne and James… giving up? They couldn't give up! They were… Roxanne and James. They were practically Hogwarts legends!

Fred had gotten so used to hearing about their pranks and asking about them and consulting on them and listening around the castle for word on what had gone down that week (as they were usually a week or so apart), that once he realized that they stopped, he felt almost like a piece of him had died.

It just wasn't Hogwarts for Fred without out-of-control bubbles in the bathrooms or firecrackers in the stairways or someone's toad getting turned into a balloon animal or their robes accidentally catching on fire. And he wouldn't stand for it.

Most of Fred's interactions with his cousin James happened at Quidditch practice. They had become pretty close last year, when Fred joined the team. Fred always looked forward to their time together, and with the rest of the team, but before the Quidditch tryouts this year James had seemed… distracted. Not like himself.

And then Fred saw an opportunity.

He decided if there ever was a perfect time to do it, it was now. He was going to steal from his cousin the Marauder's map- that fabled tool that made all (or at least, most) of Roxanne and James' pranking possible.

For years Roxy had tried to act like it wasn't real, like their dad had made it up, and like she and James didn't actually have it. But he knew the truth. He had seen them with it; they weren't fooling him.

For years he envied their use of the map. He wanted a chance at it, too! It didn't belong to him, but it didn't really belong to them either. Why shouldn't he get to use it like they did? It was only fair.

And so while James was distracted during the Quidditch tryouts, Fred slipped away, back to the locker rooms and into James' bag. It wasn't there, unfortunately, but he hadn't really expected it would be. And so made the decision to go check the next place it was most likely to be. He left the Quidditch pitch, right there in the middle of tryouts, because now that this idea was in his head, he knew he wasn't going to be able to shake it.

He ran back up to the castle, up to Gryffindor tower, and up to his cousin's room. He was hoping that James was the one holding on to the map right now, not Roxanne, because it was much easier for him to sneak up to James' room unnoticed than his sister's. Making sure no one was around, he entered the room and, upon searching, found the map almost immediately- stuffed under James' mattress.

He almost laughed out loud when he saw it lying there. Of course James would hide it somewhere so obvious! If James was anything, it certainly wasn't complex.

And so Fred took the map and hid it back in his room, returning to the Quidditch pitch a little over half an hour since he had left, without a soul noticing that he had gone.

Now, mind you, Fred didn't enjoy the idea of being a thief, and so he made plans in his mind to return the map to James... eventually. Because, even though he didn't want to keep it forever, he _definitely_ wasn't planning on giving it back any time soon. And as long as James and Roxanne were distracted with whatever was going on with them (he suspected relationship troubles), they wouldn't be looking to get it back.

Fred didn't know if he should tell anyone about his new possession, but he decided that if he was really going to go through with this whole pranking business, he was going to need a partner in crime. Every notorious prankster had one. So he enlisted the help of his best mate, Toby Pritchett- only after he had sworn him to secrecy, of course.

Toby already knew about the map, seeing as he had heard Fred whine about it for years, but he never actually imagined he would get to use it. When Fred pulled him out of bed in the middle of the night to show him the map in all its glory, he was awestruck by the possibilities of what they could do with it.

"We could be, like-"

"The new top Hogwarts pranksters!" Fred blurted out, excited that he was finally going to get to do what he'd always wanted. "But first we need a plan."

"Right," Toby agreed immediately, before quickly realizing that he had no original ideas. "Maybe we could…" he trailed off, falling into silence.

But Fred was suddenly struck with a thought. It was also not very original, by any means, but he thought that it just might work for what they wanted to do. "We should set off fireworks during the Halloween Gala."

"What?!" Toby was not nearly as enthused by this idea as his friend seemed to be. It was far too risky. "But, mate, people's parents are going to be there. _Your_ parents are going to be there! It's a huge event! It's way too dangerous."

The Halloween Gala was an annual event sponsored and created by Mr. Harry Potter to recognize the significance of the work done at Hogwarts, as well as the work of the Wizarding community in general. The gala was first created in the days after the Second Wizarding War in the effort to help rebuild the school after the famous Battle of Hogwarts, and every year since auctions were held to raise funds for the school, and various other Wizarding charities. The gala was well attended by practically every major figure in the Wizarding World. In Fred's eyes, it was the perfect stage.

"No, mate, you don't get it. It needs to be big. It needs to get people's attention. It needs to establish us."

"Establish us as what?!" Toby demanded, sure that his friend was losing his mind.

"As... you know, as the new kings of pranking!"

"You sound like an idiot. We could get expelled for something like that! It's insane, it's too much."

"No one will know it's us!" Fred asserted, but Toby only stared at him incredulously, not getting it. "We'll do it _anonymously_. And we'll use the safe, fireless fireworks from the joke shop. The one's that are all noise and light, nothing harmful."

"How will it establish us as the new 'prank kings,'" he put air quotes around the words, "as you say, if no one knows it's us?"

"A fair question," Fred paused for a moment to think. "Well, everyone's going to know that it wasn't James and Roxanne."

"How?"

"Because, like you said, it's too dangerous. Those two are up to their eyeballs in detentions; they're in detention till they graduate, practically! With something like this, they'd be expelled for sure, and they wouldn't risk that. But us, our records are clean, so we'd be fine! Everyone will suspect them, not us. And once they realize that they didn't do it, they won't know who to look to."

"But I still don't get it," Toby questioned, "How is this establishing us if no one knows it's us?"

"It won't be establishing _us_ per se, it will just be establishing _someone._ A new person in power. Someone else to look to. We want to remain anonymous for as long as possible," Fred explained.

"We do?"

"Yes!" Fred exclaimed, exasperated. "The longer we remain anonymous the more pranks we can pull without getting in trouble. We don't want to be constantly in detention like James and Roxanne, and they've only gotten caught for about half the things they've actually done."

Toby was starting to get it now. "Okay, I see what you're saying. But why fireworks?"

"Because that's what my dad did," Fred had the answer immediately, "When he and his brother were about to leave Hogwarts in their seventh year, they set off fireworks all over the school." Fred had heard the story a hundred times. It was one of his dad's favorites.

"But don't we want to do something… original?"

Fred rolled his eyes. "It's an _homage_ mate. Get with it."

Days passed and Toby and Fred got started on the planning for their prank-spectacular. They had a little less than a month before the Halloween Gala, and a whole lot of planning to do in that time. They had to figure out all the little details: how they would obtain the fireworks, where they would keep them, how they would go about setting them off without getting caught. Fred was slightly concerned about James and Roxanne getting blamed and getting in serious trouble, so he had to come up with a way to make sure they were both somewhere where they would have an alibi. As of yet, he hadn't quite figured out how to do it.

On Friday night, he and Toby took a break from scheming and went to a secret after-hours party they heard about, where things got a little out of hand. And by that, I mean that while Fred hadn't been paying attention, Toby had gotten smashed and started dancing with Rose, and the next thing Fred knew Norrie was hitting him on the shoulder and screaming, pointing towards the middle of the dance floor.

Fred couldn't believe his eyes. Toby… snogging Rosie? The idea of it repulsed him, but it was kind of like watching a bug die- it was gross, but he couldn't look away.

It was Rose who eventually broke it off, and she spun around and walked quickly away, heading towards the opposite end of the party. Toby stood there staring after her for a minute or two, and then he turned and shlumped back over to where Fred was standing with the rest of their friends.

Liam tried to congratulate him, Cara and Norrie immediately began badgering him for details- what made him do it, what it was like, why had Rose left- and Al looked about as grossed out as Fred felt, but otherwise stayed silent.

But then Toby looked to Fred with these big, sad eyes, and in that moment Fred couldn't say what he was really thinking, which was somewhere along the lines of "what the hell were you thinking, mate?" Instead, he wiped his face clear of any telling expression, and just patted his friend on the shoulder and acted like it didn't happen, because that seemed like the right thing to do.

"Do you think Rosie's okay? Should we try to find her?" Norrie asked, addressing all of them, but mostly Al, who was obvious choice, seeing how he was the least intoxicated, the most responsible, and also the closest to Rose.

He went off to search the party for her, and came back about ten minutes later, with still no Rose in sight. "She probably left," he shrugged. "She'll be fine, I doubt she'll even remember tonight. We can check on her when we get back to the common room." Toby looked like he was going to speak up about something, but then he seemed to think better of it.

Other than that, they didn't really talk about what happened for the rest of the night, though Norrie, Cara and Liam seemed to find something very amusing, as they kept whispering and giggling to each other (yes, Liam was giggling too).

Fred was pretty determined to NOT bring it up, but come the next morning, it seemed like he didn't have much of a choice. All their other roommates had left the room almost as soon as they woke up, and hadn't returned, leaving him alone with Toby. Fred sort of wished he could have followed them, but he made the choice to stay behind in solidarity with his friend.

Toby and Fred skipped breakfast and lunch together, because Toby was claiming to be "sick" after getting so drunk last night, though they both knew he just wanted to avoid seeing Rose. Fred had run down and grabbed them some food anyway, mostly because he was hungry, but also because he knew his friend was faking.

On his way down to the Great Hall he ran into Cara and Norrie near the entrance hall, just leaving lunch together. They both looked solemn, and for a minute Fred thought something might be wrong with Rose. As soon as he asked them, though, they laughed and Norrie said, "Oh, no, she's fine- just embarrassed."

Then Cara proceeded to explain their somber moods. "A couple of _troll brains_ got busted in the corridors by Filch on the way back from the party. They blabbed about the whole thing, so it looks like security is going to be a lot tighter pretty soon."

" _I heard he's doubling patrols,"_ came a high voice that sent unpleasant shivers down Fred's spine. It belonged to Keira Connolly, the obnoxious friend of his cousin Molly, who'd shamelessly flirted with him for years, but who he'd never shown any real interest in. Something about the superior way she carried herself and her long, dark hair reminded him too much of his sister for him to see her in any sort of romantic light. She found him fascinating, he suspected, because he didn't submit to her every whim like most of the blokes in the school, who, whenever she wasn't bothering with Fred, Keira was busy hooking up with.

Fred still tried to be nice to her, because she never did anything _wrong_ to him, per se, but he still didn't enjoy dealing with her, always throwing off her many advances. Norrie, however, was not so courteous. "And where'd you hear that?" she asked, barely trying to keep the iciness out of her voice. She and Cara, like most of the girls in the school, hated Keira. They were jealous of her, though they'd never admit it, and were annoyed that she always got all the blokes.

"Well, Molly was one of the people who got caught, so-" _Of course she was,_ Fred heard himself and the other two thinking, as clearly as though they had said it aloud "-she told me all about how mad Filch was, and how he said he'd be doubling patrols."

"Well, he's always saying stuff like that, isn't he?" Fred said, hoping against hope that it wasn't true, for the sake of his upcoming prank more than anything else. Keira smiled at him sweetly- she was all perfectly straight teeth and sparkly eye makeup- and he felt his friends beside him glaring.

"She said he sounded really serious," she asserted, her flirty smile turning solemn. She looked around at the other two, and upon seeing their glares, decided that they must be mad at Molly. "It wasn't her fault, though, it was the blokes she was with!" Fred was only slightly tempted to ask which blokes; Molly's little escapades had long since ceased to be very interesting to him. "She swore to me that she didn't give anything away- not the location, not who was there- not anything."

Norrie and Cara's glares had turned into just slightly narrowed eyes, now, and Keira, reading their faces again, decided that that was good enough for her. She still didn't think their annoyance had anything to do with her, or perhaps she suspected but chose not to acknowledge it, keeping her tone casual and light.

"Anyway, I'll see you later Freddie!" She touched him lightly on the shoulder and beamed at him once more, before turning away, swishing her shiny dark hair behind her and calling out as she went, "Later, girls!" as if they were the best of friends. He hated when he called her Freddie- she was the only one who ever did, besides, of course, his older sister (again heightening the perplexing similarity he saw between them) when she was deliberately trying to bother him.

"Merlin, she's annoying," Cara said as soon as Keira had turned the corner and was out of earshot, and the other two nodded, before pushing her resolutely out of their heads. The subject of the tightened security seemed to have closed with Keira's departure, so the girls switched back to the other thing that they were still desperate to talk about.

"So, how's Toby? Is he… feeling okay?" Norrie asked, but her tone suggested that she was referring to more than just his physical health.

All morning Fred could see that Toby had been dying to talk about it as well, though Fred refused to be the first to bring it up. In fact, he was sick of the whole thing already (even though it had practically just happened), and so he snapped at her, "Why don't you ask him yourself?" before lumbering away moodily towards the Great Hall.

"Aww c'mon, Fred, come back!" Cara called after him, but he continued to walk resolutely in the other direction.

"Fine! We'll get it out of you eventually!" Norrie yelled, and then the two of them went in the other direction, headed back to the dormitory.

Once Fred returned to their room with food in hand, he found Toby pacing up and down in front of his bed, licking his lips over and over again. That was one of his ticks- one of the little things he did when he was frustrated or upset, and Fred recognized it immediately.

He handed over the lunch he had brought. Toby took it with a small, "thanks," and began wolfing it down immediately, eating rather quickly because of how hungry he was, and all the while continuing to pace. Fred ate his food a little more slowly, sitting on his bed, watching his friend. He was waiting for him to say whatever he was going to say, but eventually it became clear that he wasn't planning on speaking.

Fred finally caved and blurted out, "Don't worry about it, mate. It'll be fine, honest."

Toby looked surprised that Fred had said anything, really, after all the silence. Then he proceeded to ask, "What are you talking about?" with an expression of fake confusion. He was pretending like he didn't know what Fred was referring to, and like it wasn't plainly clear what he was so upset about.

Fred sighed, annoyed that Toby was going to make him explicitly say it. "About you… and Rosie…"

"And who said I was worried?" Toby demanded. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Mate, seriously? It's obviously bothering you. But, _like I said,_ it'll be fine."

Toby stopped for a moment, internally debating whether or not he should continue to fake like he wasn't worried. "And how do you know that?" he eventually asked, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Because you two are mates. Doubtful she even remembers, really." Fred wasn't sure if he actually believed this, or if saying so was even helpful, but he was just trying to make his friend feel better. "I'm sure we'll all laugh about it at dinner later."

"I don't want anyone to laugh about it! I feel bad enough as is!" he said, sitting down on the floor in a huff.

"Calm down, mate! Nobody cares, honestly. It's not that big of a deal. Even Rose- I'm sure she'll be cool about it. You know how she is. She'd never make fun of you, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Toby muttered, not looking at his friend, but instead focusing very hard on a particularly non-interesting spot of the carpet.

"Then what? You're worried she got the wrong idea? That she's going to want to go out with you now or something?" Toby didn't respond, so Fred continued, "Because I kind of doubt it, mate."

At this, Toby looked up at him from the floor, a slightly hurt expression on his face. "Not that you're not- not... you know!" Fred stammered, trying to save himself. "It's just that… she's Rosie. And you're you. And you know how she is..." Fred was aware that he had already said this, and still wasn't entirely sure what he meant by it, but he was hoping that Toby would find some sort of meaning.

Toby just sighed. "Yeah…" There was another drawn-out pause. "You really think she'd never see me like that?"

And suddenly it struck Fred- why his best mate was acting so weird, and why he was making it seem like this was such a big thing. "Wait… you don't _want_ her to see you like that, do you?"

Toby didn't respond and refused to look at him, but instead he put his head in his hands and shook it back and forth. His silence was confirmation enough. "Because, like… it's Rosie, mate," Fred continued, saying this almost like it was a question.

"Yeah I know!" Toby replied, his head shooting up out of his hands. "It's Rosie! You're right, of course you're right. It would never happen." He continued to shake his head furiously, as if to dislodge whatever he was thinking. "I'm not stupid, I just…"

"You fancy her?" Fred finished for him, trying to be helpful. Toby glared.

"I don't-" he began loudly, before quickly lowering his voice, "I don't fancy her."

"Okay, then you…?" Fred waited for an explanation.

"I just… I don't know, mate!" He seemed to be struggling with how to articulate it. "I mean, she's really pretty. She always has been, everyone knows that. And then there's how smart she is, and she's fun on top of that. But, I mean… we're friends. Just friends."

Fred watched his friend sadly. He hated to see him like this, all torn up and confused, but he wasn't sure what he could do to help. Encourage him? Discourage him? Let him figure out on his own? None of the options were great, but he decided to go with talking him out of it, because the idea of his best mate and his cousin just didn't sit right in his stomach. Not to mention that a relationship within their friend group could throw off the entire dynamic.

"She's not all that, mate. You know she has her flaws. She's hardly ever around, she's so focused on school. And she can be well annoying at times, we both know."

"You're right. You're right. I know I'm being stupid."

"Besides, she's so into that Malfoy bloke, I doubt she'd go for anyone else." Fred added, causing Toby to stare at him strangely.

"What do you mean, 'into Malfoy'?"

Now it was Fred's turn to be confused. "I mean, c'mon mate! She's constantly on about him, she must be in love with him or something. It's the only explanation." Fred could tell almost instantly that he'd said the wrong thing for this situation.

"She _hates_ him, that's why she talks about him all the time!"

"Yeah, that's what she wants everyone to think. That's what she tries to convince herself, I'm sure."

"How could you think that?!" Toby was raising his voice again, and Fred was still confused. He thought everyone thought that about Rose and Malfoy. Well, everyone except Cara, who was clearly in denial.

"Why are you getting all worked up, mate? It's just a theory. I'm not the only one who thinks so."

"I'm not…" Toby was struggling again to express himself, that much was clear. "I'm not worked up I just… I mean, Malfoy is 'Mr. Perfect.' He's got all that stuff Cara's always going on about- the hair and the Quidditch talent and the brains and whatever the hell. Practically every girl in the castle is in love with him! I just-" he lowered his voice again, aware that he was letting himself get too loud, "-I just think Rosie would know better than to fall for a bloke like that. That she would rate herself a little higher, that's all."

"But if he's Mr. Perfect... Isn't she rating herself pretty highly by… by picking him?" Fred puzzled.

"But he's fake!" Toby asserted. "That's just it, he's so fake. He's in _Slytherin,_ I mean, just look at his parents! He's got to be evil underneath all that."

"Hey!" Fred interjected, "You know not all Slytherins are evil- they just get a bad rap. I can't believe you'd even say that." Fred had been taught all his life by his family that he should be tolerant: never ever label people or think he's superior to them, just because they come from a different background. And even though his dad, and he himself, admittedly, loved a good joke around about the Slytherins, he also knew that it wasn't cool to just call them all evil.

"You know I didn't mean it like that, I just meant… I don't know." But they both knew that he really had meant it like that, secretly.

Fred paused, unsure where to go from here without hurting his friend's feelings.

"Maybe Malfoy's evil, maybe he's not. Truth is you don't really know him." Toby nodded, and Fred felt like, for once, he had said the right thing. But then he knew that what he was going to say next would ruin it. Unfortunately, the words were already coming out and before he could stop himself, and he added, "Maybe you're just jealous."

He didn't know why he said it- maybe chalk it up to his confrontational nature. He immediately saw something flare in his friend's eyes, and was sure for a second that he was about to get up and punch him, but instead Toby just sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I am."

And that was the end of that conversation. They sat there for a while in silence, until eventually, when Fred was sure that neither of them was going to speak, he left Toby alone in the room to brood, while he went down to the common room to work on some homework.

Later that night when dinner rolled around, Fred wasn't even sure if Toby was gonna show. Rose was there- she had emerged from her dormitory looking terribly tired and fidgety, like she had barely slept- and the group walked down together without Toby. Once they were in the Great Hall, however (about 15 minutes after they sat down), he arrived, trying to act casual but with an air of uncomfortableness around him.

They ate and talked about little nothings, Toby refusing to look at Rose and Rose not seeming to mind at all; she seemed lost in thought about something, though this was fairly typical Rose-like behavior.

Once they finished dinner and desert and began making their way back up to Gryffindor tower again, however, Rose walked casually up to Toby and asked to speak with him. It was very offhand, the way she said it, but the entire group turned to stare unabashedly at her words, waiting for Toby's reaction. The two of them ignored their friends, however, and Toby allowed himself to be led off down a deserted corridor.

"Reckon they're heading off to snog some more?" Liam asked, causing the girls to laugh and Albus to shove him into a wall.

"Shut up, no they're not!" Al protested, and Toby agreed with him. He just wanted this whole thing to blow over so he could get back to focusing on The Prank (as he had taken to referring to it in his head). They had lost a whole day of planning because Toby had been sulking!

Once they returned to the common room, Rose and Toby came in through the portrait hole about 10 minutes later, both of them seeming fine and acting perfectly normal (though Fred remained unconvinced). Shortly later, Rose announced that she was off to the library to do some research before curfew, and Al got up and went with her.

As soon as they were gone, Fred turned immediately to Toby, as did the other three. "Well…?" he inquired.

Toby sighed dramatically. "She only said that she was sorry and that she was really drunk and she was embarrassed by the whole thing."

"Ooh, harsh, mate," Liam said, clapping him on the shoulder, and Toby scowled at him.

"Not like that, it wasn't because of me!" he defended. "It's just because she knows we're friends and we both agreed that's the way its supposed to be. It was a mistake, that's all. But we're good now." He didn't look at Fred as he said any of this, so Fred was left to wonder if he was really telling the truth, or if he was going to hear the real story later. He hoped it was the former.

"Well, I, personally, am glad that's over with," Norrie proclaimed. "Who needs all that drama?" They all stared at her skeptically; they knew she loved drama.

"Yeah, right, Nor," Liam said, and they all laughed at the look of indignation on her face.

Later, after the boys headed up to bed, Fred asked Toby if he was actually fine with the whole thing, or if he was just putting on a brave face.

"No, mate, really. I was just being stupid earlier," he assured him, but Fred still wasn't sure if he was buying it. Then Toby added nonchalantly, "She said she was 'working through some things right now.' I reckon she means Malfoy, don't you?" His tone didn't give anything away, but based on their conversation earlier, Fred was pretty sure he was just acting like it didn't matter.

Determined, however, to get back to work on The Prank, he pushed his apprehension aside, and decided to follow his friend's nonchalant example. "Yeah, mate, I reckon it does," he agreed, and that was the end of that.

 _For now, at least,_ he told himself, _I'll leave it alone,_ though quite truthfully he was very determined to never bring up the subject again, if he could help it.

They had far more important things to worry about, anyway. Like how in the hell were they going to pull off this prank so that the execution was flawless and it was to the scale that he envisioned?

But that was a question for another day.

 **A.N.: So this chapter wasn't as long as the last one, but I feel like from now on the chapters will start to get shorter as I start to build up the backstory and surrounding characters. My plan is that pretty soon a lot of the storylines are going to converge instead of just doing their own thing (cough, cough, hint, hint, it may have something to do with the Halloween Gala) so I'll probably start having chapters devoted to multiple storylines, instead of just one. The next chapter will be about Louis Weasley, who was only very briefly introduced in the earlier chapters, and who doesn't have much to do with the overall story arch, but who I thought had potential to be an interesting character worth further exploring. Please please review if you liked it, let me know what you think about the converging storylines idea, and, as always, read on!**


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